Anything for Henry
by withgirl
Summary: Henry cannot accept Emma and Regina's relationship and demands that it ends. When Emma can't handle the heartbreak, Regina takes drastic measures to make sure she can be happy without her. But can she stand watching the saviour be happy with another? [Emma x Regina pairing] Rating due to language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey guys, I got inspiration for this from 'If They Can't Have Each Other They Will Never Be Happy' by edean13 and I urge you to check it out XD**

 **Just to avoid confusion I should probably say now that this is set about six months after Emma and Mary Margaret came back from the EF and Cora never showed up in Storybrooke.**

Chapter one

Henry paced frantically in front of the couch as both of his grandparents looked on waiting for him to finally voice the issue.

"You know that you have to be up for school tomorrow?" Snow said by way of breaking the silence.

The brunette boy finally stopped pacing and turned to look at his grandmother, "I won't be able to sleep!"

"Henry…they've been out about seventeen times," Charming said, though the younger boy noted the slight crack in his voice and his inability to admit who 'they' were.

"You cannot seriously be alright with this!" Henry said exasperatedly, mostly because he was ridiculously tired.

David and Snow exchanged a look and they each sighed at the same time, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hide their feelings even if they tired.

"Emma knows how we feel, Henry," Snow replied, "but she is a grown woman, we cannot tell her who she can and can't be with."

"But…she's the Evil Queen, you have to stop it before something bad happens to her. You can't let the saviour be corrupted!" he cried.

David bit his lip and tried to think of what he could say to convince him that there was nothing either of them could do. Granted, it wasn't through lack of trying, Emma had basically told them that they didn't have to accept Regina as her girlfriend, but that if they asked her to choose, she already knew what her choice would be.

"…We'll all get used to it eventually, don't you want your mothers together?" David tried.

Henry clenched his jaw and shook his head, "Regina is not my mom, but she is going to do something to ruin my real mom's life."

Snow closed her eyes in frustration and looked at her husband, silently asking for ideas of something to say, but it soon became clear that he was in the same position as her. Neither of them liked the idea of Regina and Emma sharing a son, it only made the future of their relationship more plausible.

"There isn't anything we can do, we just have to wait for their relationship to run its course," she said, sounding almost hopeful. "And you should already be in bed…"

Before she could finish her attempt at parenting her grandson, the front door opened to reveal a very happy looking blonde.

Emma closed the door behind her and smiled contently at each person in the room.

"What are you still doing up, kid?" she asked, no edge to her voice, all of her muscles were completely relaxed. After her latest date with the deceptively kind mayor, she couldn't feel anything but complete happiness.

"I need to talk to you!" Henry announced, running forward and looking her over intently.

The blonde looked down at her body, clearly confused as to what he was doing, and she finally asked, "what are you looking for?"

"I need to figure out what she did to you," he mumbled.

Emma's expression instantly fell and she brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders, "she took me for Italian food and then walked me home."

"So why isn't she here?" the boy asked sceptically, shooting a cautious look towards the door.

The sheriff sighed heavily and allowed her arms to fall back to her side before she replied, "because she doesn't exactly feel welcome here."

"And whose fault is that?" Henry shot back.

"How about the people who refuse to accept that she has changed?!"

"How can you be so sure?" the pre-teen asked, "this could all just be some big plan to hurt you or your parents."

"I know for a fact that isn't what our relationship is!" Emma shouted, feeling all of her muscles tense up, her night of bliss completely ruined by having to return home.

"Because I love her!"

Silence fell over the apartment and David and Snow rose simultaneously from the couch, shock mixed with anger consuming each of their faces, "you…love her?" Snow choked out.

Emma looked over at her mother's face, her gut wrenched when she saw the disapproval written so clearly across her face, but it was only made worse by the look of disgust on Henry's.

"But...you can't," he said weakly, "you're the saviour and she's the Evil Queen."

"Was," the sheriff snapped, "she was the Evil Queen, and what does that have to do with this?"

"The saviour is supposed to end up with a prince…" at his mother's narrowed eyes, he quickly held up his hands and added, "or princess. You deserve a happy ending and it can't possibly be with her. Villains don't get happy endings!"

Emma looked helplessly at her parents, before she realised that they would obviously agree with their grandson. There was no arguing with Henry, no matter what, he would always think he was right so long as he had the approval of almost every adult in Storybrooke, it certainly didn't help that he was right about the curse against all odds. The curse breaking had obviously given the boy a false sense of right and wrong, without the grey area that he would need to get by in life, and it was really beginning to piss Emma off.

Throwing her arm out, she said through clenched teeth, "go to bed."

Henry narrowed his eyes and looked as if he was about to add more to his argument, before he just stamped his foot and stormed off up the stairs, already planning a new operation to set everything right.

Snow and David each turned their head to watch the boy go, before they turned back to look at their daughter with very judgemental looks on their faces.

"Don't," Emma grumbled, going off to the kitchen in search of any alcohol, "the perfect night is already ruined."

* * *

Regina ran a hand across her face and continued to type away at her laptop.

By some miracle, that she was sure involved her girlfriend, she had been allowed to keep her position as mayor. She also imagined that it had something to do with the fact that none of the so-called 'heroes' would possibly be able to waste their precious time on bureaucratic nonsense.

Despite this, she still smiled slightly to herself at the thought of one of the heroes in particular.

No one was more surprised when Emma announced her feelings, but the saviour was probably just as shocked when they were returned. Against her better judgement, she had decided to throw caution to the wind and allow the blonde to take her on a date, which had included a picnic and horseback riding. The supposed fearless saviour had been utterly terrified while they were on the horses, but Regina found it adorable.

From then, their relationship had grown and they had just celebrated their three month anniversary the day before.

Though she had thought that something would have happened to break them apart by now, she could hardly deny that she was happy with the turn of events, even if she was completely lonely when the other woman was unavailable. She missed Henry with all of her heart and Emma had offered to force him to spend time with her, but she had refused. The former Evil Queen could understand finding a parent completely abhorrent and she would certainly hate anyone who tried to force her to spend time with Cora.

A soft, tentative knock at the door brought Regina out of her thoughts and she brought her eyes to the clock, determining that her assistant was on her lunch break, she sat up slightly, trying to make herself look professional and she called, "come in."

The door opened to reveal a small brunette clutching the straps of his backpack close to his body, he refused to make eye contact with the woman who raised him as he made his way closer to her desk. He wasn't sure what exactly he was going to say, but he knew that he had to say something.

"Henry…" Regina said uncertainly, her mayoral posture instantly fell away to be replaced with what Emma had coined 'momma bear mode'. Apparently, whenever she was in the presence of their son, particularly when he looked as troubled as he did now, she adopted a deeply maternal look, which was one of the reasons that the blonde had begun liking her so much in the first place.

He took a deep breath and finally looked up at the brown orbs desperately trying to discern what was wrong, "I didn't skip school, I have a free period."

"I know your timetable," the mayor said with a small, sad smile, "…not that I don't want to see you, but why are you here."

Henry swallowed hard and decided that the direct approach would be the best option here and said, "what did you do to her?"

Regina's eyebrows rose, her expression a mix between confusion and hurt as she closed the lid on her laptop, so as to give the boy her full attention.

"To who?" she asked, even though she had a feeling that she already knew what he was talking about.

"Emma, she said she loves you so obviously you did something to her!" he shouted, finally allowing his emotions to burst forward.

The brunette woman stared at him for a moment, not quite processing his words. She opened her mouth to reply, but her eyes quickly widened and she clutched the edge of the desk, "she…loves me?"

Henry waved his hand dismissively, not even registering how sad the look of surprise on his mother's face should have been, he didn't realise just how little love she expected.

"That's not important, because obviously you ripped her heart out, where is it?!"

Regina bit lip to stop her chin from wobbling and she blinked away a few tears, after a moment under her son's expectant gaze, she just about managed to reply, "what?"

"The only explanation for the saviour loving the Evil Queen is that you did something to her, you probably ripped out her heart so that you can make everyone miserable. Emma is so obviously supposed to be with someone else!"

The mayor let out a ragged breath and clutched the edge of her desk harder, "I haven't done anything to her Henry, I would never hurt her."

"But you would hurt Snow and David which would hurt Emma and me. Face it, you're not good enough for her," he yelled.

Regina finally allowed tears to fall down her face as the boy achieved in pointing out every insecurity she thought about while she was alone. Did the saviour not deserve someone better than the woman who had spent a decade terrorising an entire realm? Emma was destined to bring back the happy endings, but did that include villains? Should the woman who had taken away so much happiness be allowed be so blissfully happy with her girlfriend while there were so many families missing members because of her?

"That doesn't mean that I took her heart Henry," she replied in a slightly hoarse voice, trying to covertly wipe away the tears on her cheek, not that the brunette seemed to notice them anyway.

"Prove it then!"

"How?" Regina asked weakly, she knew that she would probably be doing whatever came out of his mouth next and she was silently praying that it wasn't what he thought it was.

"Leave her alone, break up with her and give her the chance to find her happy ending. She will be so much happier without you," he said lowly, trying to push aside the slight pang of guilt that erupted in his stomach. He stared at her expectantly, repeating over and over in his mind that she didn't deserve the saviour, the blonde woman had the right to find her True Love away from her current delusions.

Regina closed her eyes and briefly imagined a world in which she refused his request, but she knew that it wouldn't be this word. She would do anything for Henry and Emma. With her doubts magnified, she swallowed hard and nodded.

"Fine," she mumbled, not bothering to try and change his mind, she could just feel that it would just create a greater rift between the two of them, if that were even possible.

Henry's eyebrows rose in surprise and for a split second he considered that she had indeed changed, but his mind just kept reminding him of all she had done in the past and he just nodded and turned on his heels.

He didn't even turn back to offer any kind of goodbye and he certainly didn't notice as Regina's head fell into her hand, silent tears falling as she began to plan the only good thing she currently had in her life.

* * *

Emma bit her lip, worrying at the skin as she waited at her girlfriend's front door.

The 'we need to talk' text was not something she had been happy to get and she had instantly rushed over to the mansion without once stopping to question whether the mayor had sent the text from home. Knocking again, she began to rock on her heels out of anticipation, beginning to hope that this was just a case of having to teach Regina what certain phrases meant.

After a third round of knocking, the door was finally yanked open and the owner of the house silently stood aside to allow the taller woman access.

As she passed, Emma inspected the expression of Regina's face, but she quickly realised that she was currently wearing her patented Mayor Mills look. The indifference was never a good sign and it was a look that she had gotten used to seeing fall away once they were alone.

"You do know what 'we need to talk' means here, right?" Emma laughed nervously watching as Regina closed the door.

Regina clutched the door knob tightly, still facing away from the blonde, she scrunched her eyes up to stop the tears that would certainly be falling later, and finally she released the door and turned to face the other woman, "I'm well aware what it means, Miss Swan."

Emma's eyes widened and she began to shake her head, "Miss Swan? Regina, you haven't called me that since we started going out…"

"Which is precisely why I think that it is an apt way to address you, I think that we should return to a purely professional relationship."

The blonde shook her head, clenching her fists, she asked, "did Henry talk to you?"

"He seems to be under the impression that the only reason that you love me is because I took your heart."

Emma's mouth fell open, she had yet to listen to the second part and she replied, "he told you?! That little…"

"Emma!" Regina shouted before the other woman could finish her sentence.

The saviour's shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily, "did it freak you out?"

"That's…irrelevant," the brunette replied with a shaky breath.

Emma shook her head and began walking towards Regina, quickly backing her up against the front door, with the close proximity, she whispered, "it's not irrelevant, I love you and I won't let this relationship end."

"I…don't love you," Regina tried, suppressing a slight moan as the blonde let out light breaths on her neck, exactly where she knew her pulse point to be, she just about managed to resist the urge to circle her arms around the other woman's neck.

"I don't believe you," the saviour whispered against her lips before she closed the gap and pressed their lips together.

Regina quickly melted into the kiss and leaned against the door.

' _Emma is obviously supposed to be with someone else!'_

' _She deserves better.'_

 _'_ _She will be so much happier without you.'_

With her son's angry words flowing through her mind, she brought her hands up and lightly pushed the blonde away.

"We can't do this," she said with a crack in her voice, her resolve almost breaking at the look that crossed her love's face. "I can't do anything that would make Henry unhappy."

"And what about me, Regina? He may be unhappy, but I will be completely miserable without you!" Emma shouted, finally removing herself from the mayor's personal space.

"You…deserve better," the brunette said, refusing to make eye contact.

"Is that what he told you?" the blonde asked incredulously.

Regina sighed and nodded, "he asked me to break up with you, so I have to do it. I'm so sorry Emma. But you'll find someone else, there are many suitors in this town…"

"But only one person that I already love with all of my heart," she replied, almost begging, "I love you, Regina…isn't Henry supposed to believe in that? He believes that love is the most powerful magic of all, right?"

"Powerful magic to be used against villains," Regina whispered, "villains shouldn't get happy ending."

"That is bullshit and you know it!"

The brunette nodded, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned and opened the door, "you should go…"

"I am not giving up on you!" Emma said, trying to reach out to place her hand on the shorter woman's arm, but she quickly moved back out of her reach.

"I am asking you to do that, please Emma, make this as easy as possible."

"I…I don't think I can…" the saviour said as she finally stopped trying to stop the tears.

Regina had the urge to reach forward and wipe the tears away, but instead she just looked away and said, "please move on, it's the only way to ensure Henry's happy ending."

With that, she waved her hand and the saviour was enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke.

Emma blinked and looked around the familiar apartment a couple times, with tears obscuring her vision, she took a second to realise exactly where she was.

Her eyes finally landed on the couch where her mother was looking at her slightly shocked, the papers she was grading having fell from her hand.

The blonde shot another look around the otherwise empty apartment before she looked back to Snow and said, "where the hell is Henry?"

 **A/N- I need to thank my beta QueenApples as always and please let me know if you're interested in more :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Snow jumped up from the couch and held up her hands to placate her daughter, "he's at a sleep-over, what happened?"

Emma took a few deep breaths, before she finally felt like her legs could no longer hold her weight and she fell onto the coffee table, throwing her head into her hands.

"Henry asked Regina to break up with me," she replied through her sobs.

Snow's eyebrows shot up and she quickly sat next to the other woman, bringing her arm around her. As much as she had hoped for this to have happened, she couldn't deny that it physically hurt to see her daughter so hurt. She also couldn't quite believe that Henry would do something like that. She winced slightly as she felt the other woman tense at her touch and she briefly wondered whether she would be this adverse to a hug from Regina.

"And she did it?" she asked rather pathetically, but it was the only thing that she could think to say.

"Of course she fucking did it, Henry asked her to," the blonde sniffled, minutely shifting away from her mother.

"Well…if Henry isn't comfortable with the relationship, it doesn't seem fair to continue it," the brunette said softly, suddenly, Emma shot off the coffee table and her mother's arm fell away.

"Why can't people just mind their own business!" she shouted before she stormed upstairs.

Snow let out a heavy sigh, and was about to go after her before she realised that she had no idea what to say. Her physical presence didn't seem to help the blonde as much as she hoped it one day would and she had no experience with being dumped. Taking a seat back on the couch, she piled the papers together and decided to abandon them as she began to formulate what she could say.

After ten minutes, she hadn't thought of anything, but she couldn't take it anymore and basically ran over to the kitchen to make cocoa.

Within five minutes, she was up the stairs, lightly knocking at Emma's door.

"Emma, sweetheart," she said softly.

Her reply came as a muffled, "go away, Mary Margaret."

Slumping her shoulders, she thought back to the parenting books she had read after the curse had broken, something she sincerely hoped that her full grown daughter never found out.

One in particular said that they should always know that you're there for them, so she ignored the blonde's request and opened the door.

"I made you cocoa," she said as she approached the bed.

Sitting on the edge of it, she looked over the lump under the blanket that was Emma Swan, the slight movement the only sign that she was crying into her pillow.

"I don't want cocoa," the blonde replied, her voice hoarse from her crying.

Snow sighed and placed the mug on the bed side table, before she placed a hand on the other woman's leg, "it's going to be okay…"

Emma clenched one of her fists and used her other hand to throw the blanket off of herself, looking straight at her mother with her tear stained face.

"You only think that because this is exactly what you wanted to happen," she growled, "you was so angry that I was going out with 'the Evil Queen' that you didn't stop to notice how happy I was. I freaking love her and all you people can focus on is who she used to be!"

The brunette's mouth fell open and she desperately tried to think of something to say. She suddenly felt intense guilt as she realised that she and David had only been enforcing Henry's behaviour. She had basically been hoping that her daughter would be heartbroken. But that didn't change the intense feeling that their relationship was wrong, she had convinced herself that her child deserved better than Regina, and that was not something that she could so easily give up on.

"You just need time to get over it, sweetheart, you can move onto to someone better…"

"Get out!" Emma shouted.

"Emma…"

"Get the fuck out of my room, Mary Margaret!"

The brunette's mouth fell opened and she just stared at her utterly enraged daughter, who threw her arm out and pointed to the door.

Blinking away tears, Snow offered a quick nod and scurried out of the room, just about catching her child throwing herself back onto the pillow, her sobs physically wracking her body.

* * *

Snow paced back and forth on Regina's porch, her hands balled tightly into fists.

All she could think was how dare that woman make her little girl cry like that, she imagined that punching the Evil Queen would be quite cathartic after all these years and she was determined to do it.

Turning to the door, she knocked violently again, she was tempted to shout but she knew that her former step mother would not be particularly convinced to come to the door if she heard her voice.

Finally, the door was yanked open, the owner of the house not even bothering to look at who was at the door, clearly assuming that there was only one person who would try and visit her.

"Emma…" she sighed before she looked up and her eyebrows shot up, clearing her throat, she tried to make herself look less pathetic but it was too late.

It was immediately noticeable that the mayor had been crying just as much, if not more than Emma had been. Her hair was dishevelled and she had her arms wrapped around her stomach, almost as if she were trying to physically protect herself from heartbreak.

As soon as she saw the princess, however, she drew herself up higher and removed her hands from her stomach.

After a moment, though, she just let out a resigned sigh and leaned against the doorframe, "what do you want, Snow?"

The other brunette unclenched her fists and for a second she forgot why she was there. The revelation that Regina actually cared deeply about her daughter was running through her mind at a mile a minute and she swallowed hard when she realised that she was about to have the door slammed in her face.

"Why would you break up with Emma?"

Regina sighed deeply and shook her head, "I thought you of all people would be happy about this."

"You thought that I would be happy about my daughter sobbing in her bed?" Snow asked incredulously.

Guilt passed over the mayor's face at the thought of her love being in the same gut wrenching pain that she was currently in, but she knew that it would hurt so much more if the blonde was unfazed by their break-up.

"She'll get over it."

Snow narrowed her eyes at the lack of conviction and said, "will you get over it?"

"Do you care?" Regina sneered, "isn't the only important thing Emma being happy?"

"I…"

"You can't have it both ways Snow!" the brunette continued before the other woman could finish her sentence, "you can't want us apart and then become enraged when I end it. She just needs time to realise that she can find someone better."

Snow made no attempt to argue with the self-deprecation and instead said, "well until then, she's going to shun her family. It would be easier if she just forgot all about you."

Regina didn't even bother to disagree and just mumbled, "just leave me alone, Snow."

She did even try and slam the door as she just trudged back off to bed, and as the door lightly clicked into place, Snow felt intense guilt wash over her.

* * *

Charming furrowed his brow and watched as Snow stared at the blank TV screen.

"You know that it's more entertaining if you turn it on," he laughed, throwing his keys onto the coffee table.

"I'm thinking," she mumbled as she bit her lip.

"About?"

"Emma went to stay with Ruby," Snow sighed, finally looking up at her husband, "she hates me…"

"She just needs time to move past it, Snow," he replied, falling onto the coffee table while also placing his hand on her arm.

"She's really angry, David," the brunette sniffled, "she wouldn't even look at me when she left."

David's shoulders slumped, he understood why Snow was taking the rejection so hard. Considering all they did to ensure Emma's goodness, it was probably difficult to accept that the blonde would so easily choose the Evil Queen over them.

"She loves Regina, Snow," he insisted, "would you be able to look at anyone who had a part in tearing us apart?"

"Emma and Regina are nothing like us," she spat, "it's just Regina trying to make us miserable because she didn't have the curse anymore."

"If that were true, then why would she have broken up with Emma at Henry's request?"

"Because…" Snow trailed off, desperately trying to think of a reason. But all that came to mind was the broken look that Regina had been wearing when she had opened the door. She was having a hard time associated that Regina with the Evil Queen who had cast the curse to take away her happy ending. Finally, however, a reason came to mind and she decided that it would have to be good enough, even if it didn't make complete sense, "she won Emma's heart and the broke it so that could ruin her relationship with us."

"That's ridiculous," Charming scoffed.

"Do you want them together?" the brunette asked incredulously.

David rolled his eyes and squeezed hand, "of course not, but maybe telling her that she deserves better right after they broke up probably wasn't the best plan. We just need to give her space to come to terms with what happened and then she will come back to us."

Snow bit her lip and looked down at her lap, "I went to see Regina last night…"

The blond man let out a sigh and said, "what did you do?"

"I planned to do something to her, I'm not sure exactly what, but she looked just as heartbroken as Emma does. What if they're…actually supposed to be together? What if they're true loves?"

"You and I both know that Regina will do anything for Henry, so as long as he is against the relationship, it doesn't matter," David said softly. "Emma will move on eventually and everyone will be happy."

"Except Regina," Snow mumbled.

David looked at her in shock, and the princess just held up her hand, "she doesn't deserve to be happy after everything she did and she certainly doesn't deserve our daughter."

"Are you sure about that?"

With a heavy sigh, Snow shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know anymore, David. I thought that Emma would grow up in the Enchanted Forest, marry a prince and be perfectly happy. Instead, she grew up alone, had a child at eighteen and fell in love with Regina. This isn't how it was supposed to go and it's all her fault and yet Emma still wants to be with her…"

David nodded, telling her that he completely understood.

The pair fell into silence, thinking that all they could do now was wait for their daughter to come home.

* * *

-One week later-

"You should go and talk to her," Ruby suggested as she poured more coffee into the saviour's mug.

Emma lifted her head up from its position on her arms and said, "I texted her the day after she ended it, she said that if I love her then I'll respect her wishes. And her current wishes are a 'strictly professional relationship.'"

"And you're going to listen to her?" the wolf asked with a shocked expression, "that's not very charming of you, Swan."

"What do you expect me to do? Force her to be my girlfriend?" Emma snapped.

The waitress held up her hands by way of surrender and said, "maybe if Henry realised he's being a little jackass then everyone can be happy."

"The problem with your plan is that Henry is pretty stubborn, ironically, he got it from Regina," the blonde sighed, throwing her head back into her arms.

Ruby hummed in agreement and then said, "you know, not that I don't enjoy you sleeping on my couch, but you can't avoid your son and parents forever."

Emma mumbled something about 'eventually' and the wolf rolled her eyes, as the bell rang out over the door.

Emma pulled her chin up onto her arms and looked over at her parents walking in with Henry and she just turned away and looked back at the waitress.

"Emma…" Ruby said warningly.

"How would you feel if you had to break up with Belle because of Granny?" the saviour shot back.

"That would be completely different."

"Why?"

"Because we don't have son," Ruby laughed, "you've waited your whole life to find your parents…"

"I've also waited my whole life to find someone I love, why can't I have both," she sighed.

The brunette placed a comforting hand on her friend's arm and then squeezed it in warning, "incoming, Snow is coming over here."

Emma sighed deeply and after a second, she pushed her head off the counter and looked at the school teacher.

Snow stood next to the counter awkwardly and smiled at her daughter, "Emma…" she said, obviously unsure of what to say, but she knew that she wanted to talk to her child after a week of silence.

"I'm not in the mood, Mary Margaret."

The brunette's shoulders slumped and she looked at Ruby for support, but she didn't get any. Since the curse broke, it became clear that her best friend was more comfortable around Emma, probably because she was one of the few people who were for her relationship with Regina.

"I just want to make sure you're okay…" Snow said weakly, briefly looking over at her husband and grandson over in their booth, impatiently waiting to hear how the conversation went.

"Physically or emotionally?"

With a heaving sigh, the school teacher said, "you have to talk to us eventually."

"Why?" Emma asked harshly.

"Because…I'm your mother," she replied weakly.

"I don't care," the saviour shot back, turning to pick up her drink.

Snow let out a ragged breath and she finally got the sympathetic look that she wanted from Ruby, not that it was very helpful as she felt her heart beginning to crumble.

With a small nod, she just hung her head in shame as she walked over to the booth.

"Little harsh, Swan," Ruby said after a moment of silence.

"She said that I can find someone better after I had my heart torn to pieces, would you want to talk to her?"

"Snow can be a moron, but she's still your mom…"

Emma just shrugged and brought the coffee up to her lips.

Ruby sighed and grabbed started wiping the counter, watching as another waitress went over to serve the other Charmings.

The bell rang out again and Emma turned briefly and then quickly did a double take when she saw the brunette that she hadn't seen since that heart wrenching night.

Swallowing hard, she looked over at the booth to see that her family had similar expressions as Regina walked over to the counter.

Emma turned back to Ruby a pleading look and she just shook her head telling her that she didn't know what to do either.

"Coffee, madam mayor?" the waitress asked as soon as she got to the counter.

"Please," Regina replied and the other brunette walked off to make it.

Emma bit her lip and stared intently at her own beverage, before she looked over at her ex and said, "hi."

Regina a deep breath, desperately resisting the urge to just tell her that she wanted her back and she replied, "hello, Miss Swan."

The blonde's shoulders slumped and the mayor felt instantly guilty at the shimmering of tears shinning in her love's eyes.

Ruby walked back over and placed the to-go cup on the counter and it was soon replaced with money.

Regina looked like she was about to say something else to the sheriff, but she seemed to think better of it and just nodded her thanks to the waitress and made her way out of the diner.

"Well that looked rough," Ruby sighed.

Emma looked over her shoulder, just about seeing the mayor before she disappeared from view and then she unintentionally shot Henry narrowed eyes before looking back to her friend.

"Too early for vodka?"

"Yes," Ruby said with a small laugh.

The blonde pouted but she just received another laugh.

"You can drown your sorrows at a socially acceptable time, Swan, we don't want you turning into Leroy."

Emma just rolled her eyes and allowed her head to drop back into her arms, not even looking at the pained looks of the three people watching the interaction from the booth.

* * *

-The next day-

A knock sounded out through Regina's office and she looked away from the report that she was pretending to read.

Honestly, there was only one thing, or more specifically, one person that had been occupying her mind and it didn't leave much room for her mayoral duties. She had considered taking time off work, but she knew that sitting at home would just make everything worse, practically everything reminded her of Emma, not least, the hoodie that she had taken to wearing to bed.

"Come in," she sighed, noticing once again that whoever it was had come during her assistant's lunch hour.

Henry walked in and for a moment Regina considered whether she would ever get two visits in the space of a week again, but she just shook her head and waited for whatever she could possibly have done wrong now.

The brunette looked at her expectant look and felt a brief flash of guilt knowing that she was expecting him to say something bad, not that he could deny his intentions at this point.

"You broke Emma," he finally said,

Regina sighed and ran a hand across her face, "you can't have it both ways, Henry, either you want us together or you don't."

"She can be happy without you," he argued.

"I have no doubt," the brunette mumbled, "but she just needs time to adjust to being single again."

"You two were only together for three months," Henry shot back, "it shouldn't hurt her this much, unless…"

Regina raised her eyebrows, thinking that maybe he was mentally comparing their relationship to that of Snow and Charming's. As much as she found that though repulsive, she knew that it was the only terms that could make him understand, but after a moment, he seemed to decide that it was impossible and moved on.

"She thinks that she loves you and its stopping her from meeting her True Love."

The mayor let out a resigned sigh and shook her head, "I don't understand what else you could possibly ask of me, Henry. I ended our relationship and I have said precisely three words to her in the past week."

"That's more than she's said to me!" Henry cried.

The brunette narrowed her eyes and said, "what?"

"She's staying with Ruby and Belle and she won't talk to me or Snow and David, I think she hates me!"

The former Evil Queen ran her hands across her face and muttered, "idiot," before she looked back to her son and said, "I still don't understand what it is that you want me to do, Henry."

"It would be easier for everyone if she just forgot about you!"

Regina closed her eyes as his words hit her, though the statement was similar to Snow's, the impact was that much more painful when it came from the boy she had spent ten years of her life raising.

Swallowing hard, she nodded, "perhaps you're right."

Henry furrowed his brow, he had expected some kind of argument, but his mother was a shadow of the resilient woman he knew her to be. Honestly, she just looked utterly defeated.

"Emma is defensive and finds emotions difficult, she doesn't hate you, she just needs time," Regina sighed.

"How can you possibly know that?" Henry asked with narrowed eyes.

"We talked about that type of thing…" Regina replied uncomfortably, "now I believe that you should be going back to school…"

Regina watched Henry's stunned expression, he was clearly beginning to consider that their relationship was actually deep and meaningful, but he just shook his head and turned on his heels.

"You were no help as usual," he snapped over his shoulder before he stormed out of the room.

Regina clenched her hands and felt like shouting in frustration, but instead, the mirror on the over side of the room smashed to pieces and she just rolled her eyes and placed her head in her arms on her desk, trying to hold back another round of tears.

* * *

-The next day-

"Don't you have a job?" Ruby laughed.

"I took time off," Emma mumbled.

"And you decided to spend all of it at this counter?"

"Belle said that I'm not allowed to mop on your couch," the blonde replied.

"So you come to my work?" the waitress asked while shaking her head.

"The library would just depress me more."

Ruby rolled her eyes and said, "you are a ridiculous human being, Emma."

Emma nodded her agreement and then she felt eyes burning into her back and just sighed, shooting a quick glance at Mary Margaret and Henry.

"How long is this going to go on for?" Ruby asked with a tilted head of concern.

"Until I don't love Regina anymore," the blonde shot back.

"That's cruel."

"So is asking your parents to break up, but Henry did it anyway."

The bell rang out and Emma turned again to see Regina, placing her head in her hands, the blonde watched as she walked up to the counter.

Ruby was about to ask if she wanted coffee, but the mayor just held up her hand and looked at her ex-girlfriend, "I need to talk to you."

Emma's eyes widened and she suddenly sat up straighter, a small optimistic smile spreading across her face, as she ignored the cautious looks from her mother and son across the diner.

"Really?" she asked.

Regina almost melted at the happy look, but she just took a deep breath and tried to keep her composure.

"Stop being stupid."

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Regina held up her hand and continued, "Henry wishes for you to be his mother and I have made peace with that. But that is predicated on the fact that you actually live in the same place as him and act as his mother. You need to get over our relationship, it's over, but you will always be Henry's mother no matter what, so go over to that booth and talk to him."

The blonde's mouth fell open and she looked quickly at the look of shot that the two brunette's in the booth were wearing and she figured that she hadn't imagined it.

"I can't just get over it, Regina," she argued, trying to ignore the looks that their conversation was attracting from every other person in the diner. "I love you."

"I…know…but you also love Henry and he is under the impression that you hate him. If you really love me, then you will make his happiness your priority," Regina replied as evenly as possible.

Emma looked over at Henry who seemed to be looking for a sign that his assumption was correct and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

The blonde just sighed and nodded and Regina there for a moment, before she turned on her heels and walked out of the diner.

Grabbing her coffee, she sluggishly walked over to the booth and dropped into the seat next to Henry.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, though she was not quite sure why she has to be the one to apologise.

Henry and Snow exchanged a look, before the boy looked longingly over at the door.

Snow blinked a couple of times, she hadn't considered that there was one person who could so easily convince Emma to return to her family.

Inspecting her daughter for a moment, she could tell that this was a tentative truce and she couldn't imagine that things would be anything like they were before, but it would have to be good enough for now.

* * *

-One week later-

Emma pushed the scrambled eggs across her plate, every so often, she felt the other three people's attempts at covert glances burn into her, but she didn't bother to even look up.

No matter how much she tried, she couldn't just pretend that everything was fine.

She couldn't pretend that she was happy without the woman she loved and she couldn't pretend that it wasn't Henry's fault. But she could sit in silence to stop herself from yelling at him.

"I got an A in English," Henry announced after the silence became too oppressive.

"That's great," the blonde said without looking up, still failing to actually place any food in her mouth.

The little brunette's shoulders slumped and he looked to his grandparents for help, but they seemed just as lost as to what to say as he was.

Finally, the saviour's son decided that he'd had enough, "what did she do to you?"

Dropping the fork on the plate, Emma looked up at him with narrowed eyes and clenched her jaw to prevent the onslaught of swear words that were rushing through her mind.

"Nothing," she said as slowly and evenly as possible.

"Then why are you acting like this?" he cried, "you were supposed to bring back the happy endings, but you're just acting miserable."

Slamming her hands on the table, she rose to her feet and finally snapped, "I'm acting miserable because I'm fucking miserable."

"Emma!" Snow admonished, but the blonde just held her hand up to shut her up.

"I was finally happy for once in my life, but you thought that you had the right to decide who would be good enough for me. Why do you get to decide who I get to love?"

Henry swallowed hard, desperately trying to keep the tears from falling, "she's the Evil Queen…"

"What is your point?!" the blonde shouted.

"Villains don't get happy endings," the little brunette replied weakly.

"If she doesn't get her happy ending, then neither do I!"

Henry was finally stunned to silence and he tried looking at his grandparents, but they seemed just as shocked as he was. This was the most they had heard their daughter talk in just over two weeks and neither of them were very prepared for her words.

"All of you claim to be heroes and yet you can't even give Regina one more chance!"

"We gave her so many chances, Emma," Snow argued.

"No, you gave the Evil Queen those chances, but what about the woman who saved you from the horse. A horse, by the way, that Cora arranged to endanger your life so that Regina would save you and Leopold would want to marry her! Every shitty thing that happened to her was because her mother was obsessed with her becoming queen, including Daniel," she finished, staring straight at her mother. "You wanted a mother so badly that you got Regina's first love killed in front of her, don't you think that it makes sense that you gave her another chance at love."

"That's a twisted way of looking at it!" Snow shouted, shooting out of her seat, "I'll admit that telling Cora about Daniel was a huge mistake, but I was ten! That doesn't mean that she gets to take my daughter away from me!"

"No one said anything about taking me away from you," Emma cried, "if you had just accepted our relationship, everyone could have been happy."

"Regina is the Evil Queen and she deserves all the misery in the world!" Snow shouted and her eyes widened when she realised the words that had come out of her mouth. She shot a quick look at Henry, whose mouth had fallen open in shock and then to David whose eyes had just widened. Finally, she looked up at Emma whose expression held nothing but anger.

She was about to hold up her hands and admit that she crossed her line, but before she could do so, she felt a sharp slap across the side of her face.

She fell into her chair clutching her cheek and watched with widened eyes as Emma stormed off towards the door.

* * *

Regina pulled her mug of coffee closer to her body and sighed as she heard the rain pounding against the window outside.

She considered just poofing to work, but even if Henry had no intention of forgiving her, she still had a promise to keep, so she just finished her beverage and was about to go off in search of an umbrella when she heard a sharp knock at the front door.

With a sigh, she wondered what else her son could possibly have to yell at her about, especially this early in the morning.

Yanking the door open, her eyebrows shot up when she saw the soaking wet blonde, clearly having forgone her coat.

Letting down her façade, she pulled the saviour into the warmth of her house and inspected her closely.

"Emma, what happened?" she asked, while beginning to walk towards her study, with the shivering Emma following close behind her.

Sitting down on the couch, the blonde allowed Regina to pull a blanket around her.

Looking down at the floor, she just shook her head, "I can't do this anymore, Regina."

The brunette's shoulders slumped and she fell into the seat next to her, and deciding that this couldn't be seen as evil, she waved her hand and the saviour's wet clothes were replaced by her most comfortable workout clothes.

Pushing the blanket off herself, Emma looked at Regina through blurry eyes, almost begging her to stop her misery.

"Emma…" Regina began weakly, but she was cut off when the sheriff launched forward and capture her lips in her own.

After a second, she fell back against the arm of the couch with the blonde following her, and she began to move her lips against Emma's as she brought her hands up to rest on her hips.

Regina found that she was sick of controlling herself and slid her tongue across her ex's bottom lip, she was instantly given access and their tongues began fighting for dominance.

This went on for a good five minutes, but as soon oxygen became an issues and they broke apart, Emma switched to the olive skin of Regina's neck and she moaned deeply at the touch she had been craving.

Closing her eyes in pleasure, she suddenly remembered the crushing loneliness of the past couple weeks and she knew that it would only make the rest of her life that much more difficult if she allowed this to go any further.

Bringing her hands up, she lightly pushed the saviour back into a sitting position and shook her head, "we can't do this, Emma."

"We can," the blonde argued, a fresh round of tears falling down her cheeks, "you just won't."

"I have to do what Henry asked me to…" she sighed, not resisting as the taller woman brought her closer, she figured that a hug wasn't crossing any major line.

"I know…but what about me?" Emma asked, her voice cracking.

"You can find someone else."

Closing her eyes in frustration, the saviour asked, "why do people keep saying that? They keep saying that I deserve better, that I can find someone else, but to me you're the only perfect person in this town."

Regina smiled weakly and replied, "I'm afraid you're the only person who believes that, dear."

Emma nodded and nuzzled herself into Regina's neck, allowing the scent of apples to invade her senses, she somehow knew that this was it for them. She knew that Regina would never allow her to choose her over her parents, she would never be able to deal with the guilt of once again being the reason that the blonde was an orphan. Plus, they had Henry to think about, as long as he refused to acknowledge Regina as his mother, Emma had to step up and fill the role for her, she was certainly the only person that the mayor trusted to do so.

"They just don't know enough about you," Emma sighed, "you're compassionate, beautiful, incredibly smart and you'll give up everything for the people you love. Why can't they see that?"

"You may see those qualities, but you don't understand what I did in the past. I truly don't deserve you Emma, no matter how vehemently you disagree, you can't deny that the Evil Queen and the saviour living happily ever after is not the correct ending to this story."

Pulling herself away from the brunette, Emma inspected the vulnerable look on her face and she wished that there was some way that she could undo all of the damage done to her. She wished that there was some way that she could erase everything Cora did to her, erase what her grandfather did to her, every single little thought that led to her becoming the Evil Queen, but she knew she couldn't. All would ever be able to do was to love her despite of the past, to love her for the woman she had become, but she wasn't allowed to do that because of a stubborn ten-year-old.

"I can't pretend that everything is okay, Regina. I could go out with someone else, but I will never be able to pretend that I love them as much as I love you…"

"Would you be able to try, for me?" the brunette asked weakly.

"We could…pretend to be broken up…" Emma said hopefully.

The mayor reached across and wiped a tear away from her love's cheek, "I can't lie to Henry again and I would never be happy if I had to hide the way I feel for you."

"Which is?" the blonde prompted, though she was sure that Regina felt the same way, the brunette had yet to say the words out loud, and she wanted nothing more than to have verbal confirmation.

Regina thought about her response for a moment and decided that there was only one way that the woman she loved could get the happiness she deserved.

"I…love you, Emma, which is why I have to do this."

Emma furrowed her brow and watched as Regina waved her hand, a small roll of parchment appearing in her hand a split second later.

She narrowed her eyes at it and said, "what is that, Regina?"

"Henry and Snow made a very good point," she sighed, standing from the couch, knowing she would change her mind if the saviour touched her.

"What?" the blonde asked in a small voice.

Swallowing hard, the mayor looked down at the spell and said, "they pointed out that it would be easier if you forgot about me, everyone would get what they want…"

Emma stood slowly and shook her head, "I wouldn't get what I want, I just wouldn't remember why I'm miserable."

"Something that would be easier to move past then your current heartbreak…"

"But what about you?" Emma almost pleaded as she tried to reach forward to grab the parchment, but she felt magic envelope her body, rendering her unable to move.

"The spell wouldn't work if I was to forget," she sighed, "in order for the whole town to believe that Henry has always been your son and that we never had any form of relationship, I must give up you and Henry. The price of the curse will be watching you both be happy without me, but it will be worth it…"

"Regina, please," the blonde full on begged, desperately trying to move, but finding that her magical binds were far too strong.

"I love you, Emma Swan and I always will, but this is the only way that you will find the person who deserves to be with the saviour…"

Before her love could protest further, she whispered the rather simple incantation and a purple energy shot out from her, covering the whole town.

Emma closed her eyes, a few final tears falling before every memory from the past ten years was replaced.

Opening her eyes, she furrowed her brow and looked up at the mayor, her expression one of pure confusion.

"Regina…" she said slowly, looking around the study that she could never remember seeing before. She could remember having one or two conversations with the supposed Evil Queen, but none of them warranted her access to the woman's home.

The brunette felt a stab of pain as she saw the look of affection she had grown used to getting from the blonde was gone, but she just about managed to school her features, having magically erased the tears from both of their faces before the saviour could notice, she took on her Mayor Mills façade.

"Do try to not go out in the rain without a coat, Miss Swan, I may not be as willing to give you access to my home next time."

Emma looked down at her clothes and she furrowed her brow as she remembered putting on a different outfit that morning.

"How…"

"Maine winters are rather bitter, you're lucky that a brief blackout was all you received, now would you please leave my home?" she asked.

Emma furrowed her brow in concentration and thought about this before she just nodded and allowed herself to be taken to the door.

Regina waved her hand and the red leather jacket she loved so much appeared in her hand and she handed it to the confused saviour, "wouldn't want you coming back."

The blonde just nodded and took it, "er…thanks," she said, and after a moment she seemed to decide that there was nothing more to say. Opening the door, she shot a quick look over her shoulder at the brunette, before she made her way down the steps.

Regina watched the retreating saviour for a moment, before she closed the door and turned so her back was to it.

Letting out a ragged breath, she fell to the floor, and placing her arms on her knees, she began to sob uncontrollably.

 **A/N Sorry this is so long, but I had a lot to include haha I hope you enjoyed it XD**

 **Reviews are a great motivator ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Just a quick note, this is still in 2b, but I brought another season forward :)**

Chapter three

 _"_ _You're being ridiculous," Emma assured as she lightly stroked her girlfriend's hair._

 _Regina rolled her eyes and flipped herself over so that she was facing the other woman, "what if Henry doesn't approve? Wouldn't it be easier if we just didn't tell him?"_

 _"_ _You said that you never wanted to lie to him again," the blonde said softly with a smirk._

 _"_ _Technically, he has never asked us if we're together, so it's not really lying if we didn't tell him."_

 _"_ _It's so cute when you go all politician," Emma smirked and quickly leaned in for a quick peck and ask expected, it seemed to instantly relax the other woman._

 _"_ _What if he doesn't approve?" Regina sighed after a moment._

 _"_ _Then he'll just have to live with it, he's ten-years-old, Regina, he doesn't get to dictate what we do with our love lives."_

 _"_ _You know for a fact that isn't true."_

 _Emma took a deep breath and nodded, bringing the smaller woman closer to her body, she nuzzled into her neck, "if he doesn't approve, then we'll just give him time to adjust…"_

 _"_ _And if time isn't enough?"_

 _"_ _Have you always been a pessimist?" the blonde asked with a tilted head._

 _"_ _Not always," Regina frowned._

 _Emma smiled and placed a light kiss on her girlfriend's forehead, "we have been together for two months and all I want to do is to be able to hold your hand in public. I don't want you to think that you're some kind of dirty little secret, because you know that I would shout it from the rooftops if I could, I mean, I'm dating Regina freaking Mills."_

 _The brunette finally smiled and the saviour mirrored with a triumphant smile, "how do you always know exactly what to say? It certainly isn't genetic."_

 _Emma let out a bark of laughter and replied, "they're not that bad…"_

 _"_ _When it comes to anything but a hope speech, they are generally inept."_

 _"_ _Now you're just stalling, madam mayor, I'm supposed to be meeting Henry at the diner in ten minutes…"_

 _"_ _Just Henry?" the brunette asked after a moment._

 _"_ _Mary Margaret promised to drop him off and Ruby said she'd watch him until I showed up. I will tell my parents straight after, but I think we should probably tackle this one person at a time," the saviour chuckled._

 _Regina bit her lip and sat up, "I look forward to finding out how it goes…"_

 _Emma rolled her eyes and pulled the blanket off both of them, "nice try, Mills, you're coming with me, it will be fine."_

 _Regina sighed and nodded, pushing herself out of the bed._

 _-Twenty minutes later-_

 _"_ _No!" Henry shouted._

 _Emma's mouth fell open and she looked over to the not at all surprised person sitting in the booth next to her. Despite her expectations having been met, however, Regina still looked like she was in real physical pain from yet another rejection from her son._

 _"_ _This isn't a yes or no question, Henry," the blonde shot back, "we're just telling you what is going on, but that doesn't mean that you have a choice in this."_

 _"_ _But…she's evil, she can't be the person that you end up with."_

 _The saviour shot another sympathetic look at her girlfriend and then turned back to Henry, "first of all, 'she' is your mother, show her some respect. Second of all, your mother and me will be together for as long as we both want to be and you can't change that. Either you get used to it or get over it, but those are the only two options."_

 _Henry looked between them with a slightly open mouth, and after a moment, he bolted out of the booth, running to towards the door._

 _His path was soon blocked, however, as the door opened to reveal the deputy sheriff coming in for his morning coffee._

 _The brunette boy took a moment to look at his grandfather, before he crashed into him with a hug._

 _Charming looked over at the booth that Henry must have just come from and his eyebrows shot up when he saw his daughter and mortal enemy sitting on the same side with their fingers intertwined._

 _"_ _Can you take me home?" Henry mumbled against his stomach._

 _The blond opened his mouth to make a comment, but as he looked over at Emma's pained expression and the implications of the situation ran through his mind, he found that there was just nothing he could say._

 _So he turned Henry around by the shoulder and exited the diner._

* * *

-Present day-

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Snow asked as she watched her thoroughly confused daughter walk into the loft.

"What happened, mom?" Henry asked while putting his backpack on his shoulder.

Emma furrowed her brow, there was no reason why it should be weird for her son to call her that. She had many memories of him referring to her in that way, but somehow it just felt wrong.

Bringing her hand up, she rubbed it against her forehead and shut the door behind her.

"I think I need to lay down…what happened to you?" she asked as she noticed the angry, fully formed bruise on her mother's face.

Snow brought her hand up and winced slightly at the touch, before she just shrugged, "I tripped over…" she said unsurely, after a moment, she just shook her head and started to walk towards the door.

Placing her hand on Emma's forehead, she felt a slight temperature and she smiled slightly in sympathy, "you're burning up, I can take the day off if you want."

"I'm a grown woman, Mary Margaret," the blonde laughed, "I wouldn't want to deprive the kids of their lesson."

"If you're sure…" Snow sighed, desperately wishing that she could look after her child. "Call me or David if you need anything, I'll be back straight after school…"

"Just go," Emma laughed.

The brunette sighed and nodded.

Henry launched forward and hugged her, "get better, mom."

Emma brought her arm around him and thought for a second as she felt a pang of unexplained anger, but she pushed past it and just squeezed his small frame.

"Go to school kid, I just should have worn a coat," she chuckled.

Mary Margaret and Henry exchanged a look and then nodded.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Emma stumbled over to the couch and fell onto it, placing her forearms over her eyes.

The first image that rushed through her head was that of Regina and just sighed.

She could feel that there was something just there that she should know, almost as if their relationship went far beyond the few indifferent interactions she could remember.

She didn't like the feeling of questioning her own memories, but Gold being the one to cast the sleeping curse on Henry didn't make any sense and yet her mind was telling her that it was exactly what happened.

With a sigh, she just turned on her side and pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over her body, and swaddled herself.

Within seconds she allowed sleep to take her, though a picture of the mayor was still firmly painted in her mind.

* * *

-One month later-

"What's up kid?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow as she turned to follow his line of sight to the counter.

She tilted her head and watched as the mayor ordered her coffee and then turned back to fix her son with a questioning stare.

"Huh," Henry said as if he had been caught doing something bad. Every time he saw the mayor, he couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong. He knew that no one else seemed to notice, but she always looked so incredibly sad, so lonely. A couple times, he could have sworn that he caught her staring at him and Emma, almost as if she was looking at the things that were missing from her life, but then again, he couldn't remember ever even having a conversation with her, so he was becoming convinced that it was all in his head.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied before he dug his fork into his French fries.

Emma sighed, she really wished that she understood just what it was that was getting her son so down, but for the past month, it just felt like everything was off. Though she was pretty sure that it was nothing considering that they seemed to be the only two affected by whatever it could be, everyone else in town seemed to be happier than ever.

Shooting a quick look at the mayor as her heels clicked against the floor, Emma resisted the urge to sigh.

She couldn't understand why she couldn't just allow things to be good for once in her life. She had parents, her son was healthy and doing well in school, the only supposed villain in town was filling her days with constant paperwork. Honestly, the blonde was sure that it would have taken more to convince Snow and David that they should just allow Regina to finish her term as mayor since she hadn't done anything bad since the curse was cast. The saviour was beginning to wonder just what could have made the woman so bad, she just seemed to be one to melt into the background and do anything to avoid attention from the townspeople.

"You know, Snow has been asking when you're going to start going out with someone," Henry grimaced.

Emma raised her eyebrows at the boy and said, "do you not want me to?"

"Of course I want you to," he sighed, "but who would you want to go out with in this town? I mean, are there even any other gay women?"

The blonde frowned and shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not really looking for a relationship right now, Henry."

"Why not?"

"I…" she began, feeling that the answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she just shook her head and admitted, "I don't know."

They sighed at the same time and was each about to pick up some food when the power went off.

Emma scowled up at the ceiling and counted down from three in her head and as she predicted, her phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"There's a problem at town line," her father's voice announced.

"What kind of problem?" she grumbled while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"There's like this big ice wall thing…"

Emma blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, "I'll be right there, can you let Regina know what's going on?"

David agreed, he and Snow no longer seemed to have any major issues with Regina now that she basically kept to herself at all times and the truce had only served to make Storybrooke an even more peaceful town.

Hanging up, she motioned for Ruby to come over and said, "there's something going on at town line, could you watch Henry?"

The waitress nodded and Emma hopped out of the booth, hoping that this wouldn't take too long.

* * *

Emma looked up at the ice wall and just shook her head, "I don't get what you want me to do…"

"Take it down with magic?" David suggested.

"I'm not exactly a master," she laughed.

David sighed and shrugged, "there must be something we can do."

The blonde nodded and approached the wall of ice, running her hand over it, she noticed a little crack and squinted as she looked through it.

Raising her eyebrows, she saw a blonde woman rocking back and forth, whispering something to herself.

Shooting a quick look at her father, she began running her hand along the rest of it, before she found what looked to be a gap she could fit through. She knew that it was probably a stupid idea, but something about the woman just made her want to help her and there was no way that she would be able to sleep at night if she didn't at least try to go in.

Looking at David, she saw the disapproval on his face, but before he could voice it, she slipped in through the crack, accompanied by a weak call of "Emma" behind her.

The woman heard the crunching of ice and her head shot off her lap and she fixed the intruder with a glare.

Emma suddenly felt the ground around her begin to shake and the ice behind her collapsing on itself, blocking her exit and she fell face first onto the floor.

Wincing, she pulled herself up on to her knees and brought a hand to her forehead, pulling it away, she swallowed hard at the blood covering her fingers.

Clearing her throat, she inspected the tears covering the cheeks of the beautiful woman and asked, "are you okay?"

The blonde furrowed her brow and said in a hoarse voice, "you ask if I'm okay after I caused you harm?"

Emma pulled herself to her feet and balanced herself against a protruding ice spike and shot her a sympathetic look, "I can tell that you didn't mean to do it, I'm Emma Swan by the way."

The woman seemed to think for second, before she said, "E-Elsa…"

Emma furrowed her brow and said, "you don't seem sure."

Elsa bit her lip and shook her head, "no, I'm almost certain that is my name…"

The other blonde pushed herself off the spike and just about managed to walk over to her while she shivered intensely.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Nothing!" she cried, "I can't remember anything, I have no idea what these strange powers are and I don't know how to control them…"

Emma nodded and she attempted to think of something helpful to say, but she felt her eyes begin to drop and she couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees as numbness began to consume her body and her teeth began chattering uncontrollably.

Rushing forward, Elsa placed a hand on Emma's back which only served to make her shiver more and she whipped it away.

"Sorry," she said instantly.

"It's…okay…do you…remember anything…at all?"

"The last thing I remember was waking up in the forest and wandering out onto the strange road. I got incredibly anxious and this structure began to build itself around me."

Emma nodded and resisted the urge to close her eyes, but she was wearing a very thin jacket and was very likely concussed, she assumed that neither was helping the situation.

"You know…I have magic too; I can't control it either…"

Elsa's expression seemed to lighten at the idea of not being the only one and she brought her hand to rest on the other woman's shoulder. She seemed to remember that it hadn't helped last time and she was about to snatch it away, but Emma brought her hand up and caught her wrist.

"It helps," she assured, even if it made her colder, she couldn't help but feel comforted by it.

Elsa furrowed her brow but nodded anyway, "why are you here, Emma Swan?"

"I-I'm the s-sheriff. I got a call about a d-disruption at town line. I should be h-helping, but it looks like I m-made things w-worse," she laughed.

"We need to get out of here," the other blonde said determinedly, though she had only just met her fellow blonde, she felt an instant connection and she knew that she wouldn't get the opportunity to spend more time with her if she were to freeze to death.

"H-how?"

"I have no idea…"

* * *

Regina sighed as she switched the regenerator on and turned on her heels, already planning a night of reading and wine, when her phone began to ring.

Raising her eyebrow at the name on the screen, she answered sardonically with, "twice in one day, Charming?"

"Emma's trapped in the ice wall and I'm pretty sure she's hurt…"

Regina felt all of her sarcastic comebacks fade away at the thought of the saviour being hurt, but she still had one burning question, "why didn't you call the fairies?"

There was silence on the other end of the line as he considered the question and he finally replied with, "I thought that you would be able to help more…efficiently, I guess."

Regina took a deep breath and allowed the magic she hadn't used in a long time to overcome her as she poofed herself to the town line.

David jumped slightly, before he rolled his eyes and ended the call, "she's going to freeze to death soon, I know that you don't owe her anything…"

The brunette held up her hand and said, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't intend to help, Charming."

He nodded when he realised that she had a point and just crossed his arms as he waited for her to do something.

Regina walked towards the structure and inspected it for a moment, before she placed her hand on its surface and though of melting ice.

It didn't take long for the ice to begin to disappear and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a shocked unfamiliar blonde clutching the unconscious saviour close to her body.

The former queen instantly zeroed in on the gash on her love's forehead and felt anger boil in her stomach, she wanted to hurt the woman for doing it, even if she could tell that it was an accident.

She was about to throw some form of fireball, when she felt herself being nudged out of the way by the deputy sheriff.

"Emma!" he shouted as he jumped into the little ice cave.

Elsa jumped to her feet and helped David bring his daughter into his arms, and as carefully as possible, he brought her out on to the road, with Elsa not far behind him.

Regina completely forgot to expect any form of thank you as she looked over her ex-girlfriend. Without thinking, she leaned forward and ran a hand over the gash, which promptly healed.

Charming's mouth fell open as he noticed just how caring the gesture was and he was about to question it before Regina cleared her throat and said, "I can't have the sheriff taking sick days. I have serious doubt in your ability to run that station alone."

David rolled his eyes and completely forgot why he had been shocked and began walking towards the car so that he could warm his little girl up.

Regina scowled at his back and then shot Elsa a dirty look, noting to herself that she should follow up on who the hell she was, before she waved her hand and sent the three of them to the Charming's apartment.

The two conscious blonde's blinked a couple times at the sudden shift in scene and Snow all but jumped off the couch when she saw her significantly paler than normal child.

"What happened?" she asked as she placed her hand on Emma's face and shot Elsa a questioning look.

"I guess Regina saved Emma," David said with a furrowed brow, before he placed his daughter on the couch and proceeded to wrap her in every blanket he could find.

"Okay…" Snow said unsurely as she pulled the space heater over to the couch, and then looking up at the silent blonde, she said, "and you are?"

The princess opened her mouth to answer, but she was suddenly overwhelmed by everything in the room. It all looked completely unfamiliar and she actually genuinely afraid.

"Her name is Elsa," Emma said in a hoarse voice, looking at her parents through heavy eyes.

Snow spun around and fell to her knees so that she was level with Emma's face, "are you okay, sweetheart?"

Emma nodded, though her teeth were still chattering, she could feel warmth spreading through her body, oddly, it was mostly coming from where the cut used to be on her forehead.

"I'm really t-tired though."

Snow smiled at her and said moved a piece of hair away from her face, a gesture that the saviour was too tired to wince away from.

"Can you pick Henry up from the diner?" she asked weakly.

"Of course," Snow smiled.

David looked at his wife and shook his head, "I should probably head back to the station, there are going to be a lot of complaints…"

"Go, Elsa can watch me if that makes you feel better," Emma said sleepily.

The blonde's eyebrows shot up and she was about to protest that they barely knew each other and that she shouldn't trust people so quickly, but it somehow felt good to be so easily trusted. Even if she couldn't remember anything, she had the distinct feeling that trust was not something she was used to getting.

After a second, Elsa nodded her agreement and the Charmings exchanged a cautious look, before they each made their way towards the door.

Elsa fell onto the coffee table and smiled at the sleeping face of the woman she was already so attracted to.

* * *

Emma blinked her eyes opened and looked up at the blonde sitting on the coffee table, she looked utterly terrified.

Sitting bolt up, she looked around cautiously and then followed Elsa's line of sight to the phone sitting next to her on the table.

Falling back against the couch, she laughed and asked, "what's wrong?"

"It…it made a strange sound," Elsa replied unsurely.

Reaching out for the device, the saviour smirked when she saw the number of missed calls. After noting that she had been asleep for over four hours, she quickly pressed the call back button.

"What's up Mary Margaret?" she asked as soon as the line connected.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," her mother replied.

"Then why didn't you just come and check on me?"

"We came twice, but the apartment was crowded and Henry said that we should leave you in peace. We can come back now if you want."

Emma shot another look at Elsa and instantly decided the answer, "come back a little later, okay?"

"If you're sure," Snow sighed, she really wished that she could understand what it was that made Emma constantly pull away from her, but the fact was that not even the saviour herself could quite understand the random bursts of anger she felt when she was around her parents.

Hanging up, she offered Elsa a charming half-smile, before she said, "it's a phone…you can use it to talk to people who aren't in the same room."

The other blonde nodded, but still continued to eye it with distrust and Emma couldn't help but notice just how adorable the expression was.

"You know that you didn't have to watch me for four hours?" Emma said after a moment.

Elsa finally gave the other woman something resembling a smile, before she replied, "I was responsible for what happened to you."

"Not really, it's not like you did it on purpose," Emma said as she placed a hand on the other woman's.

"How can you be so forgiving?"

Emma bit her lip and shook her head, "I'm usually not, but there's just…something about you."

Elsa's eyebrows shot up and the other blonde closed her eyes in frustration, _real smooth Swan,_ she thought to herself.

"I…don't remember anything about myself other than my name, these powers seem to be more reckless than helpful and everything in this place terrifies me, what could that thing possibly be?" Elsa laughed after a moment of thought.

"I would probably be less charming if I told you."

The other woman finally smirked, she couldn't stop the eruption of butterflies in her stomach and she suddenly forgot all of her problems. As much as she wanted to know her past, she didn't hate the thought of looking to the future.

"From what I can tell, it would take a lot for you to lose your charm," Elsa laughed.

Smirking, Emma replied, "well, first of all, you're really incredibly beautiful, you're the one person that I've felt comfortable around in a while…"

Before could finish her list, she felt soft lips connect with her own and smiled dopily as the other woman pulled back.

"Aren't we rushing this a bit?" Emma laughed.

Elsa shrugged and replied, "it's not as if I can remember any reason that we should take it slow, besides, this just feels somehow right."

Emma let out a contented sigh and sat up more fully, "speaking of not being able to remember, we should both probably get a check-up."

"Check-up?" the other blonde asked cautiously.

"A doctor will check that we're healthy," she replied softly, but still received another cautious look. "Don't you trust me?"

Elsa relaxed her shoulders and stood from her seat of the last four hours.

"After this, we should probably plan a date," Emma laughed as she began leading the way to the front door.

"What's a date?"

The saviour laughed as she saw the adorable confusion again and began considering how she could possibly explain it.

 **A/N I know that it might seem like FrozenSwan was rushed, but there is a story based reason for it, which I hope you guys will enjoy when you find out :)**

 **I will try and put in as many SQ flashbacks as possible :)**

 **Reviews would be a great motivator :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Just to clear up any confusion, Regina is the only one that remembers SQ and everyone in town knows that she's the Evil Queen.**

Chapter four

-One week later-

"Aren't you rushing a bit?" Henry said almost insistently.

"You were complaining that I didn't have a girlfriend and it just feels right with Elsa for some reason," Emma replied.

"But…we don't know anything about her…I mean, she doesn't even know anything about her. How can you be sure that she won't get her memories back and realise that she's married or something?"

"If she was happily married, then why would our relationship feel so right?" the saviour shot back, "I cannot remember the last time that I had this kind of connection with someone, what would be the point in waiting be?"

Henry shrugged and said, "does she remember anything yet?"

"I think that she's more focused on adjusting to Storybrooke."

"Eventually she's going to start wondering about the past," he pointed out.

"I can deal with it, kid," Emma replied with an exasperated sigh.

Henry sighed and nodded, falling back against the booth, he pulled his fries towards himself and began throwing them in his mouth two at a time.

"She's meeting us here, Henry, so you need to start acting more grown up," Emma rolled her eyes.

The bell rang out and the blonde turned expecting her girlfriend, but the sight of the familiar brunette threw her off.

Regina maintained eye contact for a moment, before she made her way over to the counter and signalled for a to-go coffee.

"I'll be right back," the saviour muttered, and she slid out of the booth followed by Henry's questioning gaze.

"Hey," the blonde said awkwardly when she finally approached the counter.

The former Evil Queen resisted the urge to wince and just about managed to maintain her façade as she looked up at the taller woman.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Swan?"

"David told me what you did…I figured that I should thank you for saving my life," Emma replied with a charming smile.

Covertly swallowing hard, the mayor turned to accept her coffee and then looked back at her ex, "I didn't have the energy to find a new deputy and I certainly wouldn't enjoy having to deal with your father being the sheriff."

Emma tilted her head and asked with an amused look, "so you do have the energy to deal with me?"

Again, Regina resisted her desire to roll her eyes and chuckle at the woman and instead said, "against all odds, you're not quite as insufferable as your parents."

"Thanks…I think…"

Regina nodded awkwardly.

Emma thought about saying something else, mainly because she wanted to continue talking to the mayor for some reason she couldn't quite identify, but she was interrupted by the ringing of the bell.

Turning around, she smiled broadly at the blonde woman who walked straight over to her.

Gold had supplied the princess with a black band to suppress her magic, so now the woman's only worry was getting a job and finding her own wardrobe.

As soon as Emma turned her back to her, Regina openly scowled at Elsa, especially since she was wearing the red leather jackets that the saviour had allowed her to wear on many of their dates.

Elsa finally came up beside her fellow blonde and smiled at the woman that she recognised from the town line.

"Hello," she said brightly, clearly not noticing Regina's hostility.

Emma looked between them and felt an indescribable twist in her stomach, but she pushed past it and said, "Elsa, this is Mayor Regina Mills."

"Pleasure," Regina mumbled, "I really must go, Miss Swan."

Before either blonde could protest, the mayor rushed towards the door, though the saviour still noticed just how regal she looked.

Shaking her head, she turned back to Elsa leaned in to capture her lips in a sweet 'hello' kiss.

Elsa smiled back, before she furrowed her brow as she thought about Emma's expression as she talked to the mayor, "are you friends with Regina?"

Emma tilted her head and frowned, "no…she's my boss. I think we've had like two conversations since I came here."

"Okay…"

They stood in silence for a moment, before Emma took up Elsa's hand and brought her back over to the booth.

* * *

-Six months later-

"Mom!" Henry shouted, "I need help!"

When he got no reply, he rolled his eyes and ran up the stairs to her room.

Despite Snow's many protestations, Emma had decided a month ago, that she wanted to live with her son and her girlfriend. It was nice to have his own space, but no matter how much he tried, it didn't feel like home, for the past seven months, it had just felt as if something had been missing. Not that Emma seemed to notice since she was so caught up in her relationship.

Knocking at the door, he got no reply again and just swung it open.

He let out a deep sigh as he was met with his mother and Elsa cuddled up in the bed, he was well aware that the ridiculous number of blankets were for Emma, because she was too stubborn to not cuddle with her overly cold girlfriend.

Stomping over to the window, he dramatically opened the curtains and his mother promptly groaned as the light rays invaded her consciousness.

Cracking one eye open, she wondered if she was still dreaming for a moment, before she nudged Elsa and they each began to slowly sit up.

"Why are you wearing a suit?" she asked blearily.

Henry rolled his eyes again and said, "my internship at Town Hall starts today and I need you to show me how to do this stupid tie."

Nodding, Emma pushed herself off the bed and made her way over to the already lanky boy, "you're eleven, I still don't understand why you have to even do this internship."

"I want to go to Harvard, I have to start now if I want to get in," he replied and began to watch as she did his tie.

Emma stood back and swept some lint off his shoulder before she smiled broadly at how adorable he looked, though she decided that he wouldn't appreciate it if she voiced her opinion. Instead, she shot a quick smile at Elsa to confirm that she wasn't the only one that thought so and she received a smile that mirrored her own.

"How did you get an internship with the mayor?" Elsa asked as she stretched and made her way over to the pair.

Henry thought about it for a second, before he shrugged, "well I was offered one in a different department, but I mentioned that it would look better on my resume if I got one in a higher office. I got a call offering me a position with Mayor Mills like five minutes later."

"That's weird…" Emma said, desperately trying to think of the reason why it didn't feel all that unbelievable.

As she did whenever she'd had a strange feeling in the past, she just pushed past it, "come on, I'll make you breakfast before your first day at work."

* * *

Henry re-read a paragraph of the report that Regina had shown to him, but as he did so, he continued to shoot covert glances over the top of the paper to the mayor who was trying to focus on her laptop.

The day had consisted of: a tour around the building, a quick breakdown of how the institution was structured and a brief talk on what the mayor did. Regina was now showing him some of the more intricate workings of her office, but it wasn't any of that which had him looking at her curiously.

It was the fact that she was unable to hide a smile as soon as she had seen him in his suit, or the cringe when he called her 'mayor Mills', there was definitely something going on, and he was determined to find out what it was.

"Is something wrong, Henry?" she asked without looking away from her computer screen.

The younger brunette cringed and shook his head, placing the paper on the desk, he said, "I'm done…"

Regina smiled slightly and looked up at him, "perhaps you would like to go and get some lunch?"

Henry nodded eagerly and stood from his seat, but furrowed his brow when he noticed Regina continued to type, "aren't you coming?"

The mayor blinked a couple of times and replied, "I assumed that you would wish to go to the break room…"

"You can go to the break room," he laughed.

"There aren't many that would appreciate their boss having lunch with them."

Henry bit his lip and asked a question that had been on his mind for a while, "is it because they think you're still the Evil Queen?"

Regina winced slightly, but nodded, "I have been allowed to keep my position as mayor, but my past…indiscretions make socialisation with others in town quite impossible."

"But…you haven't done anything bad in like…thirty years, right?"

The former queen noted that the curse seemed to have worked perfectly. Everyone in town were very aware of who she was before the curse, but they had no idea of all of the morally dubious she had done in the years that followed. To them, she had been allowed a kind of probation, which involved remaining mayor and being completely alone.

"I deserve it," she replied after a moment.

Henry let out a little sigh, before an idea occurred to him, "how about going to Granny's for lunch?"

The older brunette blinked a few times, she was sure that this was some kind of dream and yet she was also very aware that it was reality. It seemed that without his memories, her son was far more prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"I…don't see why not," she replied after a moment of deliberation.

* * *

-One week later-

Regina blew out a breath and considered why she allowed the Charmings to run the sheriff's station. She was sure that she could easily fire the two blonde's and find a sheriff and deputy who would actually do their paperwork on time.

Though she once relished the opportunity to come and harass Emma for a file that was even a minute late, she hadn't done it in over half a year. The mayor had fallen behind on many of her own deadlines because she couldn't bring herself to go to the station to get the file as she would have done before. She even waited five days once so that she could go when she knew it would be David on duty.

Her heels clicked against the floor as she turned the corner, expecting to see a certain prince lounging in his desk chair.

Her steps faltered, however, at the sight she was met with.

She just about managed to not let out a little, very un-Regina-like, squeak as her eyes fell upon two blonde women making out.

Elsa was sat on Emma's lap and they both seemed to be completely deaf to the rest of the world as their tongues explored each other's mouths.

Elsa brought up her hand to pull the other woman closer by the neck and Emma let out a very distinguishable moan.

Regina was about to turn on her heels and leave as quietly as possible, when she heard the sound of footsteps coming around the corner.

Trainers scuffed against the ground as Henry yawned heavily, he shot Regina a questioning look, before he turned his attention on the station and the colour drained from his face.

"Mom!"

Elsa hopped off her girlfriend accompanied by a surprised squeak, and Emma turned with widened eyes to look at the two brunettes standing near the door. Her eyes past over Henry and when they fell on Regina, she somehow felt as if she had been something completely dirty. Granted, making out at work wasn't the most professional thing in the world, but Elsa was still her live-in girlfriend.

"What…what are you doing here?" was all she could think to say and after a moment she looked back over to her son.

"You promised to help with my science project…"

The blonde tilted her head and said, "I assumed that was off when I switched shifts with David."

"Well it doesn't look like you was doing any actual police work," he shot back.

Emma bit her lip and looked over at the bright red princess and tried to hold back her laughter at the utter look of horror she was wearing.

Elsa narrowed her eyes at the other woman's look of amusement and said, "this isn't funny, Swan."

Emma burst out into laughter which only got harder as the other blonde quickly crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at her.

Henry watched the scene for a moment, before he shot a quick look at Regina.

His eyebrows shot up at the look of hurt that was consuming her face, she was clearly assuming that no one was looking at her in this moment as every crack in her façade seemed to become huge fissures. The little brunette could see clear jealousy etched into her features and he began to form some theories.

"Mom," he said with an exasperated sigh, motioning towards the mayor.

Emma straightened up and her eyes widened as she finally realised that her boss had seen the entire scene, "Regina…"

As soon as the blonde looked at her, the former Evil Queen just about managed to school her features and held up her hand, "your father promised me a file yesterday and I thought that it would be simpler for everyone if I collected it."

The saviour frowned as she considered the number of late files Regina had never collected from her, but she pushed it aside and pulled a folder towards herself.

"That's what I was doing before I got…distracted," she sighed as she opened it and inspected the number of pages she had yet to fill out.

The mayor pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

"Bring it to my office by tomorrow, sheriff."

"I could have it done in an hour," the blonde argued.

Regina looked over at Henry and sighed, "I believe you have a promise to keep, Miss Swan."

Henry looked between them and shook his head, "mom clearly has a lot of work to catch up on…"

"But you should start your project soon," Elsa pointed out.

"Maybe Elsa can help you," Emma suggested hopefully, she had been trying to get them to bond since their relationship started, but lately it seemed like Henry was more interested in his internship with the mayor.

"Do you know what entropy is?" Henry asked with raised eyebrows.

Elsa shot a look at Emma who returned with a sympathetic look and said, "I could learn what it is."

"It would be better if someone helped me instead of me trying to teach them…"

"Henry!" Emma scolded.

Regina looked at the downturned expression on the princess's face and suddenly, she had all the sympathy in the world for her. She knew what this situation felt like and she also knew that she would usually give anything for it to end.

"I could help him," she blurted out.

Emma's eyebrows shot up and she looked at the mayor cautiously, "you really don't have to do that, Regina."

"It would appear that I have some spare time on my hands, I don't see why I can't return the favour for all of his hard work."

Regina watched as the tension fell away from Elsa's shoulders, clearly she wasn't too confident in learning scientific principles just so she could spend time with a reluctant pre-teen. Even if the blonde had just been groping the love of her life, she knew that anything that made Elsa's life easier would make Emma happy, so she did it anyway.

Elsa nodded with a grateful smile and then said, "I should leave you to your work."

Emma was about to protest, but the princess leaned down for a quick peck and said, "I'll see you later, love you."

The blonde sighed when her girlfriend was halfway across the room and turned back to the work her father had failed to finish.

"I love you too, babe."

Henry observed Regina's very slight wince and he had to resist the urge to smirk at how obviously jealous she was.

"I'll have this done as soon as possible," the saviour assured as she began furiously scribbling, her pen stilled and she looked up with her charming grin, "and thanks again."

Regina bit the inside of her cheek as she resisted the urge to melt at the woman's smile and she simply nodded, "it's not a problem, Emma."

The brunette turned on her heels and Henry followed closely behind. Neither of them noticed the blonde at the desk furrowing her brow as she realised that the mayor had actually called her by her first name.

 **A/N Sorry that is is shorter than previous chapters, but I'm a bit sick right now and I wrote as much as I felt like writing...**

 **I hope you enjoyed anyway and reviews would be much appreciated :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Henry covertly looked around the study that Regina had led him to.

He had often gotten this odd feeling when he walked past the big white mansion, he almost had a feeling that he had the right to just enter without asking permission.

Now that he finally got a look inside, the strange feeling subsided slightly. Everything inside the house just seemed wrong somehow.

Every surface was empty, it just seemed like there wasn't a single personal affect in the whole building.

He had never quite thought about it before, but it occurred to him that the woman didn't have any family, she definitely didn't have one when photographs were an option.

He just didn't realise how literal she was when she said that she had no friends, he couldn't quite understand how the brunette could be considered to be so evil, since he had met her, she had been nothing but nice.

Finally, Regina looked over the top of her laptop curiously at him and asked in an oddly maternal way, "should you not be focusing on your work?"

Henry felt this strange sense of guilt twist in his stomach, almost as if she actually had the right to discipline him in anyway outside of his internship.

He took a moment to process this before he swallowed hard and said, "I don't get entropy…"

Regina nodded slowly and replied, "it does seem rather advanced for your age."

"My Chemistry teacher said that I needed something that would actually challenge me," he sighed and stared blankly at the printout of explanation he had been given.

He looked up at the other brunette and instantly furrowed his brow when he could have sworn that he saw some kind of proud smile play across her lips.

After a moment of silence, Regina explained, "entropy is the theory that everything in the universe moves towards chaos. The further apart particles are, the more chaotic the substance is. That means that a gas is more chaotic than a liquid and a liquid is more chaotic than a solid."

Henry spent a second thinking this through before he smiled broadly, he had been stressing over this for a while and Regina had just made it seem simpler than anyone else who had tried to explain it to him.

"You would make a pretty good teacher," he commented as he began furiously noting down what she had said.

"There aren't many who would allow me teach their children," Regina mumbled as she turned back to the computer screen.

Her eyes widened when she realised that she had said that out loud and then looked back up at Henry whose eyebrows had shot.

"My mom let you," the younger brunette said once his shock had fell away a little bit.

Regina inclined her head slightly, she knew that Emma was the only exception in town, even if she couldn't remember why, the blonde seemed to have some residual trust in her. But she had to remind herself that the saviour could not remember any of their relationship, not even anything that had happened before they had admitted to not hating each other.

"The sheriff was in…quite the compromising position, I imagine that she wished for it to end…"

Henry smirked as he noticed the mayor was desperately trying to hide the many emotions flashing across her face.

"Do you like my mom?" he asked.

Regina's eyes widened and his smirk only got wider.

"I barely know her, Henry," she finally replied.

The younger brunette gave her a doubtful look and decided that he should point out something he had observed, "you seem to avoid her a lot. I actually saw you leave the diner when my mom was standing at the counter…"

Regina tilted her head and inspected the boy for any signs of disgust, but he seemed positively giddy at the prospect.

"I am a very busy woman, I'm sure that I simply got a message from my secretary and didn't have time to get my morning coffee," the brunette replied after a moment of thought.

"Right…" Henry said in disbelief, "so how do you think I should do this project?"

Regina stared at her computer a moment later, desperately trying to compose herself, and eventually she looked over at him with a tight smile and replied, "I believe that a essay would suit you best."

Henry nodded his agreement, before he stopped and furrowed his brow again, "how do you know that I like writing?"

The former queen stopped herself from sighing exasperatedly.

She had no idea how she could have possibly have thought this was a good idea, but then again, she didn't think that this would be how their conversation would have turned out.

"I…I have informed by Belle that you are the most frequent visitor to the library, I assumed from that you enjoy both writing and reading…"

Henry narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, but Regina just held his gaze and thanked anyone who was listening that Emma's stupid 'superpower' wasn't genetic.

After a moment of silence, Regina said, "perhaps you should begin planning this essay."

The younger brunette nodded and pulled a text book from the library from his bag and placed it on the table, "this was the only book that the library had on entropy. I'm not sure that this topic has enough to write two thousand words."

Regina closed her laptop lid and pulled a blank piece of paper towards her, after about thirty minutes, she finished scribbling some notes down and handed the paper to Henry.

"You should use about two hundred words for the introduction and another two hundred for the conclusion. Then you need three main points, each with sub-points, and they should all be about one hundred and fifty words for each of the paragraphs. You just need to find three points that you can write about."

The younger of the two blinked down at the essay structure she had just handed him and he considered what Emma would have given him if she was the one to help him. He loved his mother, but he sincerely doubted whether she would ever be this constructive in her help, especially now that he was being given much more advanced work.

"I think this could work," he said almost to himself, "you're awesome, I can't believe that nobody wants to be around you."

Henry choked on his words when he realised what he had said and he looked up at Regina to see a shocked expression, rather than the indignant one he had expected.

"I didn't mean…"

Regina held up her hand to stop his apology, and said, "it's alright, dear, it did start with a compliment."

The other brunette noticed a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips and smiled back at her.

His smile faltered and he looked down at his lap, before he decided to go ahead and ask since this was probably the only time that he would have a decent seg way.

"So why are you so…alone?"

Regina took in a deep breath, and thought about simply not answering the question, she could tell by the tentative look on his face that he wasn't really expecting anything. But then she remembered her promise to never lie to him again, even if he couldn't remember it, she certainly could, so she knew that she would tell him the truth no matter how much her mind was screaming at her not to say anything.

"I have…changed very much since casting the curse, but before that I was…"

Henry noticed her hesitation and figured that she probably didn't wish to relive some of her darker moments, so he gave her a way to move past it, "the type of person who would cast the curse?"

Regina nodded slowly and shot him a grateful look, before she continued, "your…grandparents allowed me to keep my position as mayor since I haven't done anything of note in three decades, but that doesn't erase what I did while in the Enchanted Forest. I don't deserve to have any more than the pardon I was given from any real punishment."

"Thirty years of being alone sounds like a real punishment to me…"

Regina mentally corrected that to twenty years, but replied, "there isn't anyone in this town who I wish to build a relationship with anyone."

"No one?" Henry asked in disbelief and Regina could almost hear his tone of voice suggesting Emma.

She shook her head and raised the lid of her laptop again, just so she had somewhere else to look other than at the boy who had no idea that he was her son.

She could almost feel his expectant look burning through her laptop and she figured that the only way that he would drop it was if she gave him something she had stopped believing in many years ago.

"As a teen, Tinkerbell used pixie dust to find my soulmate…"

She looked up and smirked slightly when she saw that Henry's mouth had fell open slightly at her words and she wondered why she hadn't just told him the truth from the start. It certainly looked as though he would be much more willing to accept her if she had.

"She told me that my soulmate was the man with the lion tattoo, I was too afraid to go and talk to him at the time…"

"That's awesome!" Henry almost shouted, "that means that you can find him and be happy."

Regina bit back some tears as she considered the lyon tattoo she had been so surprised to find on Emma's wrist. The moment she had seen the flower, she had known that Tinkerbell had made a mistake, but she couldn't very well tell Henry this.

"I don't think that it would be plausible to go around Storybrooke demanding to see every person's wrist," she replied half way between a sigh and a chuckle.

"We obviously have to be subtle about it," he said with a chuckled. He brought his fingers up to his chin and began rubbing it with his forefinger in concentration, "we can call it operation…Mongoose."

Regina just stared at the boy blankly for a moment, this was very much surreal and yet she was finding that she was also enjoying it more than she believed she had any right to. She was truly beginning to understand how Emma had gotten so wrapped up in Operation Cobra.

"Between an internship and school, do you really have time for…Operation Mongoose?"

"There is always time for an operation," the boy said as if it were obvious.

Regina nodded slowly and blinked a couple of times, before she pointed at the text book, "you need to do your essay before any operations."

Henry instantly grabbed a pen to start writing down some ideas for his essay, and Regina wondered how long it would take for her to no longer have some kind of subconscious power over the younger brunette.

* * *

Emma walked up to the mayoral office, she didn't noticed the smile tugging at the corner of her lips at the prospect of being able to talk to the brunette. In fact, she was putting the inexplicable happy feeling down to the fact that she would be meeting her girlfriend for lunch in an hour.

Clutching the folder close to her body, she noted that the mayor's assistant must be on break and she knew for a fact that this was a day that Henry was at school.

Making her way straight past the desk, she rapped on the door, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.

After a moment, she heard a muffled 'come in' and opened the door almost as quickly as possible and all but ran into the office.

The blonde allowed her eyes to flick over the woman sitting behind the desk and when she realised that her eyes had lingered too long, she cleared her throat and adamantly tried to remind herself that she loved her girlfriend.

When she finally managed to set her eyes on Regina's face, she tilted her head as she inspected the mix of emotions playing across her features. A split second later, the brunette schooled her expression and looked at the sheriff expectantly.

Emma smiled slightly, before realising that she had been standing awkwardly in the middle of the room for too long and finally crossed the room and sat in front of the desk, before pushing the file across to her.

"Sorry I didn't bring it earlier, I had to take Henry to school," she explained somewhat nervously.

Regina nodded and smiled somewhat tentatively, "I'm very aware, sheriff."

Emma mirrored her nod, and clapped her hands together anxiously in her lap.

She desperately tried to think back to a time she had talked to the mayor, but the last interaction she could remember that wasn't after the woman had saved her life,, was when she had woken up in her house. She had thought about it a couple of times in the past seven months, but since she had met Elsa, it hadn't really come to mind. Now that she thought about it, she realised that she had been somewhat aware of Regina's presence in town, but like everyone else, she had just kind of ignored her.

Now that she was staring at her, however, she felt this kind of intense guilt churn in her stomach, accompanied by some other emotions that she couldn't quite identify.

It was for this reason, that she felt the compulsion to continue this interaction, since she didn't like the idea of the next one being another six months from now.

"Speaking of Henry…" Emma began and Regina's eyebrows shot up. Even if she wanted the blonde to stay, she certainly hadn't expected her to want to stay past placing the file on her desk.

"What about him?" the brunette asked after a moment.

The saviour shifted in her chair and tried to think of how she could finish that sentence and she finally thought of something after over twenty seconds, "I should really thank you again for helping with him. I'm not too convinced that I would have been able to help him."

Regina looked down at her desk and wondered how easy it would be to dismiss the blonde from her office, but the fact was that she didn't want to. Having one conversation with her wouldn't be breaking the promise that she made to Henry, and after so long, she wasn't strong enough to resist that adorable grin.

Looking back up at the other woman, she replied, "it's quite alright, dear, you did look rather…busy…"

Emma instantly cringed, she once again felt guilt twist her stomach and she had to try and remind herself that Elsa was her girlfriend, who she was allowed to kiss. She convinced herself that it was because she shouldn't have been doing it at work, but somehow she got the feeling that she couldn't possibly feel this bad for it.

"Yeah…I'm really sorry about that as well, it won't happen again…"

Regina nodded, desperately attempting to not think about the two blondes kissing ever again, it had been something she had been trying to deny for the past six months, "I should hope not."

Emma tilted her head as she registered some bitterness in the brunette's voice, but she just pushed it aside and said, "do you want to come and get a cup of coffee?"

The brunette's mouth fell open slightly and she began running through reasons to say no, but the fact was that none of them seemed good enough, she wanted to spend time with the saviour. She knew that she would regret saying no later when she saw her with Elsa, so she just decided to go against all of her instincts.

Pretending to note the time on the clock across the room, the mayor said, "I suppose I have been here long enough to warrant caffeine."

Emma furrowed her brow and asked, "is that how a queen says yes?"

Regina couldn't stop the grin tugging at the corner of her lips as she nodded, "it is indeed, Miss Swan."

"Awesome!" the blonde replied, before she noticed Regina's amused expression, mixed with something much sadder, and she quickly shook her head and cleared her throat, "er...I mean good…"

The brunette nodded slowly and rose from her chair, "I don't have a great deal of free time, sheriff, so we should really get going."

The sheriff inclined her head in agreement and began making her way to the door, unable to keep the huge smile from her face.

 **A/N Sorry for the wait, I have exams next week so have been only able to write in small bursts. I'll be back officially on Friday and I'll be able to go back to updating all of my fics as often as I can...**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Emma tapped the table nervously and simply looked across the table at the brunette who seemed to be refusing to make eye contact as she drank her coffee.

There was absolutely no reason why she should feel guilty for taking the woman that had helped her son out for coffee, it was just to say 'thank you' after all. But whenever her eyes fell onto the mayor, no matter how innocent the situation, her mind always seemed to scream that she had her girlfriend and she would spend the next half an hour trying to remind herself of all of the reasons that she loved Elsa, though sometimes, it was rather hard to figure out.

It was almost as if the mayor was capable of casting some kind of spell on her, which made her forget all about her relationship.

She had spent many hours trying to convince herself that it was merely that the former queen was ridiculously hot and it was only natural for her to notice such beauty. She highly doubted that there was a person in town who could deny that the mayor was attractive, that didn't mean that she had any romantic feelings for her. How could she? The saviour knew literally nothing about the former Evil Queen, there was no way that she could feel anything for her other than physical attraction, though the butterflies in her stomach seemed to have not got that message.

Finally, the silence became oppressive and Emma said, "Henry said that you make a really good teacher…so you know, thanks again…"

Regina looked up and sent the woman a tight smile, she had thought that she might actually have gotten away from this without having to make much conversation. As much as she relished the time she was having with the other woman, it was only serving to remind her what she was missing, especially when the two of them attempted to have a dialogue exchange longer than one or two sentences. Their comebacks and witty remarks used to be effortless and there were never really any pauses in their conversations unless their mouths were otherwise engaged. Now though, their conversations were stagnant and they were far more painful for the brunette who could remember a better time.

"It was really no problem, I enjoy Henry's company…" the blonde tilted her head, she was trying to identify what it was in the other woman's tone, but Regina quickly added, "he is a very bright young man. He is truly a pleasure to work with."

As expected, Regina saw the familiar look of pride Emma's face and determined that she had successfully distracted her from whatever she may have detected. It appeared that even without her memories, the saviour was still one of the only people capable of reading her every tone and facial expression. But then again, she was always one of the only people who ever tried.

"It is quite shocking considering how much of a moron I can be," the blonde laughed.

Regina smiled fondly and replied, "intelligence does seem to increase across generations, you are certainly smarter than your parents."

Emma smiled at her reply for a second, before she furrowed her brow, she hadn't quite come to terms with the fact that Mayor Mills could have ever been the Evil Queen, otherwise known as her parent's greatest enemy. The woman who she had occasionally seen since she came to Storybrooke seemed to be a far cry from anyone who would ever spend their days plotting revenge against their step-daughter.

She had read the book a couple of times and it just didn't seem possible that Regina would have just backed down after everything she had been through, but it just seemed like she was completely resigned. Almost as if something had happened to her that no one knew about.

"I saw Henry making notes for Operation Mongoose…he wouldn't tell me what it's about, but you know that you don't have to go along with whatever he had planned, right?"

"He didn't tell you what it is?" the brunette asked, disbelief dripping through her voice, she couldn't help but think about Operation Cobra and how he would never even have considered telling her a single thing about what was essentially a plan to get away from her.

Her throat constricted for a moment, she had to wonder whether there was anything that could make Henry happy. It appeared as though she had given him what he wanted, but he still wasn't happy, though she was rather convinced that if he could remember, then he would wish to go back to how things were now.

The blonde shrugged and replied, "he said it's top secret or something, honestly I don't even notice anymore…"

Regina nodded slowly, before she decided that it couldn't hurt to clue the blonde in, not that she would admit that she simply wanted to see her ex-girlfriend's reaction to her son's plan.

"When I was a teen, I was told that my soulmate would be 'the man with the lion tattoo' and Henry is convinced that I still have a chance to find him…"

The blonde blinked a couple of times, and a second later, she realised that her hand was gripping her wrist, over her lyon tattoo.

She quickly cleared her throat and tried to push aside whatever was trying to get out of her subconscious, "does he plan to go around town demanding to see people's wrists?"

Regina just shrugged her shoulders and replied, "honestly, I'm not convinced that my happy ending can come in the form of a man."

The saviour ran that line over and over in her mind, before she decided to mentally file it away for later analysis, she was sure there was some kind of meaning that she should be understanding from it.

"Then what would make you happy?"

 _You, you idiot,_ the brunette practically screamed in her mind, but her outward appearance remained as stoic as ever as she explained something that she had been thinking about for a while, "I believe that leaving Storybrooke would be a good first step."

Emma's mouth went dry and she wished that she knew why.

For some reason that she couldn't identify, the thought of this woman whom she barely knew leaving town, never to be seen again, caused a physical stab of pain in her stomach. But so did imagining her miserable, she just didn't know what to do about this entire situation, especially since she couldn't even seem to identify her own emotions whenever she was around Regina Mills. After a second though, she felt an almost triumphant feeling rise within her as she realised something, "but the ice wall is still blocking the town line."

"Which is precisely why I am still here," Regina sighed, she knew that she was sharing more than she usually did, but she could hardly deny that she wanted to talk about her feelings with the blonde. Even if it hurt, it also somehow felt good at the same time.

"Why don't you tell Henry this?" the blonde asked, almost tentatively.

"He is convinced that if he finds my soulmate, I will be happy, and I am not inclined to scar him with my long list of romantic failures that prove it is very unlikely to work. I see no reason why he can't at least try," she sighed, Regina knew that this man couldn't possibly be her True Love, but there was still a slight chance that she could be somewhat happier with him than with what she had now. Not that any of this mattered, she was pretty sure that she would have noticed the man with the lion tattoo in Storybrooke many years before she adopted Henry if he had indeed come here with the curse.

"Are you sure you have to leave?" the sheriff asked somewhat childishly, almost as if she was begging her to say no and admit that she would never want to leave.

Regina considered just giving her what she wanted, even if the blonde didn't know why she wanted the older woman to stay, it still felt good to know that she did.

But then an image of two blonde's making out at the deputy's desk and she hardened her resolve, she had could endure a lot, but seeing the people she loved so happy without her was becoming more difficult the longer she was forced to stay here. She was beginning to wish that she had left in the first month, but she had wanted to stay long enough to ensure that Emma would find happiness with someone else, and through a cruel twist of fate, the thing that brought the saviour Elsa was also what trapped the former Evil Queen in what she considered to be living hell.

"I live in a town where everyone either hates me or tolerates me because there is no one who wishes to deal with my job. Apart from holding an election, I hardly think that anyone would feel my absence," the brunette admitted, bitterness pouring through her voice, she adamantly refused to look up at the emerald green eyes, knowing that it would probably make her start crying, which was not something she would ever wish to do in a public forum.

Emma sat in silence for a few seconds as she mulled this over, she had never really thought about what kind of lonely life the mayor was living. In fact, she hadn't really paid the woman much mind and now she felt utterly guilty for completely ignoring her, though it wasn't as if she had ever had a reason to interact with her outside of work, at least not one that she could remember.

Finally, she came to a decision, not that it was easy, but she couldn't come up with any logical reason why it should be difficult.

"Well we can figure out how to get you passed the ice wall together," the blonde smiled charmingly and Regina would have sighed at the sight if she hadn't just about caught herself in time to stop.

"What?" she asked somewhat unevenly.

"The saviour was supposed to have brought back everyone's happy endings, right? You've proven that you deserve to have some kind of happiness and if that's outside of Storybrooke, then we can find a way to get you out of town so that you don't have to live in misery anymore…"

The brunette was rendered completely speechless, no matter how many times she opened her mouth to reply, no sound came out.

She just couldn't believe what she had just heard, on one hand, it served to yet again prove just how kind and compassionate the love of her life was, but on the other, if she agreed than they would certainly be spending more time together and then she wasn't sure that she would want to leave anymore.

"…That really won't be necessary, Miss Swan," she tried to say as professionally as possible.

"Of course it is! It is not fair that you should have to stay here just because it's taken the sheriff six months to look into what should be a serious issue…but, you know, I don't think anyone else wants to leave town," Emma rambled before shook her head and got back to the point, "Elsa can help as well, she should really stop ignoring her powers, it would be good for her."

The mayor clenched her jaw at the mention of the princess's name, she had hoped that they could go the entire time without mentioning her love's girlfriend, but of course, the saviour was always thinking of ways to help those she loved.

She willed the tension in her every muscle to go away, but eventually she just settled on trying not to let it shine through in her voice, "I suppose we could try."

Emma furrowed her brow and was about to think on the bitterness oozing from the brunette, but the bell over the door rang out and her gut instantly clenched when she saw a smiling blonde walking over to the booth.

Elsa had yet to see Regina, she simply thought that Emma had been waiting for her for the lunch date they'd planned earlier that day.

"Hey," she said happily, before she noticed that someone was sitting across from her girlfriend and she tilted her head questioningly, "hello mayor Mills…"

Regina resisted the urge to huff at the woman, she knew that she would probably actually consider liking the woman if she didn't hate her for being able to place her hand on Emma's shoulder as she was doing right at that moment. The brunette narrowed her eyes and considered the protective look on the blonde woman's face, before she quickly schooled her features and nodded at the woman.

"Are you busy with work? I thought we were meeting for lunch…" Elsa said, while turning to her girlfriend.

"Err…" Emma began looking between the two women, once again feeling guilty, but she didn't know if it was because Elsa had interrupted her coffee or because she was having coffee with Regina instead of her girlfriend. But then she told herself that there was absolutely no reason why either of those things should make her guilty. Especially since the mayor would be leaving town soon if she got her way. "I went to drop the file off and Regina's and I asked if she wanted coffee to thank her for helping Henry."

"Oh," Elsa replied brightly and she lightly nudged the other woman, which allowed her to slide into the booth beside her.

Regina swallowed hard and looked down at her mug, within a second, she had downed the remaining contents and stood from her seat.

"While thank you, Miss Swan, this was very nice of you, but I have a lot of work to return to," she announced, her eyes firmly avoiding the fact that Emma and Elsa's hands seemed to have reflexively joined under the table. "I'll leave you to your lunch."

The sheriff opened her mouth to protest, but then she realised that she had no reason that the woman would stay, in fact, this was supposed to be date, meaning that there was every reason why her boss shouldn't stay.

"Err…okay, I guess I'll see you soon then, Madam Mayor," the saviour replied, smiling up at her.

Regina's eyes covertly glided over her face and she remembered all of the times that Emma would say that whenever they planned a date, she would even have the same happy smile.

Quickly giving each blonde a curt nod, she turned on her heels, and the moment she was out of the diner, she allowed her shoulders to slump in defeat.

After a deep breath, she pulled her façade back up and began walking back to her office.

* * *

Archie tilted his head at the brunette sat across from him and waited for her to say something.

He had been more shocked than surprised when she had first come to see him, mostly because Regina's first visit to the therapist was to inform him about the curse that she had left him out of.

After he had promised to not tell anyone that he was one of the only ones who truly knew what had happened in the past, she had taken her time to come and see him again. In fact, it had taken exactly a month for the woman to return and admit why she had allowed him to remember, of course it wasn't exactly that big of a secret to Archie.

Regina always had a contingency plan, and that involved having one other person remember so that she wouldn't be completely alone. He was actually glad that she had chosen him, even if the situation was completely messed up, it appeared as though the mayor no longer wanted to be alone, bottling up her feelings. Although, the fact that she knew exactly what was wrong and couldn't really do anything to help, did present a barrier to her happiness. Though she believed that the ice wall was her only barrier to an escape from misery, he knew that she would never be happy anywhere she went, knowing what would make her happy and not being able to obtain it, no matter how far away from it she got, would probably be keeping her in misery for the rest of her life. The only silver lining was that as long as she stayed in Storybrooke, she knew that she had someone to talk to, even if there was literally nothing either of them could do to address her issues.

His eyes flicked over to clock and he decided that half an hour of silence was probably enough time for Regina to reflect on why she had decided to suddenly drop in, usually she only came when she had her weekly appointment,

"Did something happen?" he asked softly.

Regina swallowed hard, she knew that there was no point trying to evade the question, as she probably would have done in the past, this was the exact reason that she had omitted Archie from her newest curse after all. However, that didn't mean that she was completely comfortable sharing her feelings with him, especially since she knew that there was a blonde currently having lunch with her girlfriend who she would much rather be talking about her feelings with. Of course, if that were an option, then she wouldn't really need to talk about how miserable she was.

"Emma invited me for coffee…" she whispered, looking down at her clasped hands as a plethora of emotions ran through her. She couldn't quite decide whether she was happy to have been allowed to spend that much time with the love of her life after six months, or if it had just made everything worse by reminding her of exactly what she had lost.

Archie took a second to absorb this, before he replied, "I thought that the two of you had been having very little interaction…"

"…Henry started his internship two days ago and Emma had taken a shift at the station for her father, so I offered to help Henry with his science project. Emma invited me for coffee as a thank you."

The red-head nodded and thought about this for a second, he could have sworn he heard a slight hitch in her voice when she mentioned Emma covering David's shift, but he knew that she would probably talk about it whenever she was ready.

"So what happened?" he urged, he could see the whole ordeal being rather painful, but he highly doubted that she would have rushed over to his office if something big hadn't happened.

Regina sat in silence for a moment, before she admitted, "Henry wants to start an operation to help me find my happy ending because he thinks it's unfair that I am alone. I mentioned to Emma that I would rather leave town than find a man and she offered to help find a way to bring down the ice wall…"

Archie nodded slowly, he had a feeling that something like this would happen, no matter how adamantly Henry had claimed to hate his adoptive mother, he had always been sure that it was something else. It was more like resentment for lying and if she had only given him time, he would have realised that she was still his mother, though he could understand why a woman with Regina's past was so prone to losing hope.

"Has it not occurred to you what them wishing to help you means?" the therapist asked, only to receive a furrowed brow from the woman across from him. After a short sigh at her confusion, he said, "even without their memories, they wish to help you. I know that Emma would have done anything for you, but maybe Henry needed to forget for a while so that he could see things objectively."

"Or maybe, he's just impossible to please," Regina sighed, "he told me that he would be happier without me. I find it very hard to believe that his mentality will be any different if he remembered. His willingness to help me is probably born from the effects of déjà vu. I'm sure that me leaving town will help to free him of his dislike of Elsa."

"Is that truly what you want, Regina. What will you do outside of Storybrooke? You don't know a single person outside of this town and you won't have magic…"

"I have barely interacted with a single person in this town for the past six months, and I haven't used magic since I cast the curse. I highly doubt that either will be a real issue, and it would certainly be worth not being constantly faced with what I can't have," she replied bitterly.

Archie tilted his head and considered his next words carefully, they had gone over and over the idea of her breaking the curse and seeing what would happen. It was pretty much guaranteed that a kiss between the former Evil Queen and the saviour would ensure it would break. The thing that they couldn't be sure of was what would Henry's reaction once he got his memories back.

The young brunette would either realise just how much his mother was willing to do for him and apologise, or he would resent her for breaking the curse and see her as selfish. The therapist was well aware that Regina firmly believed in the latter possibility, even if he thought the former would be what would happen. Despite what he thought, he had yet to think of a way to make Regina consider it.

"If you think it would be too difficult to deal with, you can simply end Henry's internship and rebuff Emma's attempts to contact you. I'm sure that they would both get the message," he said after silence had stretched for thirty seconds. As he had expected, he saw her jaw tighten at his suggestion, he knew that it would, but had wanted to simply see her reaction. He had a theory that her impulse to leave had become stronger over the past couple of days because she had started spending time with Henry again and she couldn't handle the fact that it meant so much more to her than to the oblivious. Having coffee with Emma had probably ignited a small ember of hope, which was not something the mayor enjoyed having to deal with. He knew that her muscled were tense at the thought of rejecting them, which was something she had probably thought she would never have to do, but as long as she was convinced that she had no future with either of them, this unwillingness to let them go would bring her nothing but unhappiness.

"I promised Henry an internship which he needs to enhance his CV, if I send him to another department, it won't be nearly as impressive," she tried to reason.

"Then resign as mayor," Archie retorted.

"I would have literally nothing in this town if I did that."

"You're planning to leave town, so why would it matter?"

Regina opened her mouth to reply, but she swallowed hard and deflated as she said, "if there is no way to bring down the ice wall, then I would have to stay…"

"Can you not simply go around it?" the therapist asked with a furrowed brow, honestly, he didn't even bother keeping up with the latest reason why people had to stay.

"It goes into the forest, it is literally blocking any escape…" Regina sighed, falling heavily back against the couch as she considered the how she had spent a whole two weeks trying to find a way out of it. She was sure that there was some kind of spell that could have helped her leave, but whenever she picked up a spell book to search, she would remember her promise to Henry and then she couldn't even find it in herself to look. She would then spend time trying to convince herself that she was being irrational since he didn't remember demanding that she not use magic, but she just couldn't get past the thought of disappointing him. So she had taken to just waiting for the saviour to find a solution, though it seemed that she was just too caught up in her new relationship to even think about looking into a matter so important.

"Escape is an interesting word," Archie said after a moment.

"I am trapped here against my will, I believe that it is a rather apt word," she spat back.

"You had a month before the ice wall to leave, are you sure that you didn't want something to 'trap' you here?"

Regina just looked at her lap, she considered telling him her justification that she wanted to make sure that Emma found someone else. But that wasn't really the reason, she had been hoping that the blonde would somehow spontaneously remember and the come to the mansion to yell at her for what she had done, which would no doubt end in a heated make out session. But no matter how long she waited and hoped, it didn't happen and by the time she let go of the fantasy, Emma had Elsa.

Standing up, she cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry for disturbing you without an appointment, Dr Hopper."

She began walking away and Archie allowed his shoulders to slump, it was yet another session where they achieved nothing, but at least the brunette knew that she had someone to talk to.

Deciding that pushing the woman would achieve nothing, and silently hoping that Emma would realise she would be trying to send her True Love away, he rose from his seat to see her out.

"I suppose I'll see you during our session in two days?"

Regina thought this over for a second, before she just slightly inclined her head and made her way out of the therapist's office.

* * *

Henry clutched a folder close to his body and walked as quickly as he could towards the mayor's office. He had considered running, but for some strange reason, he had heard a maternal voice telling him not to run in Town Hall, even though he was sure that he had never been in a government building with Emma.

Knowing that the mayor wasn't in a meeting, he forwent knocking, and quickly slipped into her office with a small smile on his face as the brunette came into view. He honestly wished that he understood why he felt so happy around her, he almost felt more comfortable, even though she was supposed to be his boss.

"I figured out the photocopier," he announced triumphantly as he took strides across the office, soon coming to a stop at the other side of her desk.

Regina returned his smile as he handed her the files she had asked for and said, "thank you, Henry, you can go for your lunch if you want to."

"I'm not really hungry," he said quickly, and fell into the seat opposite her, placing the folder on the desk, he continued, "I thought we could talk about Operation Mongoose."

Regina looked at him in disbelief, and for a second she thought about telling him that it wouldn't be appropriate in the workplace, he was supposed to be learning about the world of work after all. But when he inspected his adorably excited expression, she found that she couldn't deny him what he wanted, so she just nodded by way of saying 'yes'.

Henry smiled broadly at her and then started pulling out the lists he had made, "so I was thinking that you were right that we can't demand to see everyone's wrists, so maybe we could do some kind of fair or something and design a game that involves rolling up sleeves…"

The older brunette raised her eyebrows at the papers he had set on her desk and she briefly wondered whether he'd had this comprehensive of a file for Operation Cobra, but she quickly shook of the thought.

"We really don't have the budget for two fairs in one quarter and the winter one has already happened…besides…I'm not sure what booth could possibly call for someone to pull up their sleeves…"

Henry nodded his understanding and moved onto the next page, "I guess it was a long shot…I thought maybe you could check arrest records to see if anyone had the tattoo, but you wouldn't really want your soulmate to have been arrested, right?"

The mayor bit her lip and tried to keep Emma's stint in prison out of her mind and just nodded because she didn't want him to continue with that idea.

Henry sighed and looked back down, the rest of his ideas were even more long shots and his shoulder's slumped, "I guess I need to go back to the drawing board. Do you want anything from the diner? My mom gave me lunch money…"

Regina thought about yelling at the blonde for not making the boy a salad for lunch as she would have done, though she knew that she no longer had the right.

"A coffee would be great," she said with a fake smile, trying to resist the urge to tell him not to get a burger.

"Okay."

* * *

"Here you go, little intern," Ruby laughed as she placed the to-go cup and bag of food on the counter.

Henry frowned at her, a small blush on his face and he mumbled 'thank you'.

He grabbed each of the things and turned instantly smashing into someone because of his failure to look up.

The coffee smashed to the floor and his lunch fell into the puddle, for a moment, he considered how lucky he was to have not been scolded by the hot beverage.

"I'm sorry lad, are you okay?" someone asked, kneeling down to pick up the bag and inspected it.

Henry looked up at him and tilted his head, he vaguely remembered seeing the blond around town, but he wasn't sure who he was.

"It was my fault," he said quickly, "I'm sorry."

"How about we agree to disagree."

The brunette nodded and looked down regretfully at the coffee he was supposed to take to the mayor.

The man reached into the bag and looked at the to-go container, "I believe your food had survived, allow me to replace your drink though."

Henry was about to say that it wasn't necessary, but the blond handed him the container and his eyes instantly fell down to his wrist.

The boy's mouth fell open briefly, before he noticed that Ruby had come around the counter with a mop, "I'll make you another coffee, Henry," she assured.

"Thanks," the boy replied, not taking his eyes off the man, "and I'm sorry again, err…"

"Robin of Locksley," the man supplied with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you," Henry said, already planning what he would tell Regina.

 **A/N Sorry this took so long, but I wanted to finish some other fics :)**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Just for the purposes of this fic, Roland is the same age as Henry :)**

Chapter seven

Regina looked in the mirror and adjusted her earrings.

Usually she would have been spending her Saturday night alone, reading or watching TV, or more commonly, thinking about the many Saturday nights that she had spent with Emma. The saviour had been determined to try and take Regina somewhere new every Saturday for their date, but with Storybrooke being such a small town, after the third date, she had to start resorting to being imaginative. Which was how the former queen had found herself spending the weekend camping in the woods. As much as she had complained about it at the time, it had turned out to be one of her favourite dates. They were just allowed to be together in some place outside of the mansion without having to deal with curious looks from everyone they passed.

For the first time in seven months, she was getting ready for a date, only it wasn't with the person she wanted to be going out with.

Henry had run into her office, completely out of breath and it looked as though he had spilled most of the coffee on his way back to Town Hall. Before the mayor could even ask him what had happened, he had started to excitably recount what had happened in the diner. Regina had been very confused at first, before he finally got to the point and told her that he had found the man with the lion tattoo. He explained that the man's name was Robin Hood and that he had told the thief all about the pixie dust.

Once he had said that, Regina had nearly sighed in relief, she thought that there was no possible way that this man would wish to go out with her with the pressure of them being soulmates over his head. But then Henry announced that he had asked him to pass on a message, which contained his number and an invitation to dinner the next day. Apparently the man believed in fate as much as everyone else in town and at her son's hopeful expression, she had called Robin to confirm that they could have dinner at Granny's. She had seen Robin around town during the curse, but once it had broken, it seemed that the blond much preferred to spend his days and nights with his Merry Men in the woods, and she had never really given him much thought. But she was more than willing to have one dinner with him if it would make Henry happy. Maybe it would even get him to stop with Operation Mongoose if she told him that it went badly.

She figured that she could try it out, surely there was a chance that Emma wasn't her True Love. She had no definitive proof that she and the saviour were ever meant to be together, all she had was a feeling deep down in her stomach, it was like every time they were together, she just knew that it was meant to be. But that didn't mean anything, she had spent most of her time getting ready trying to tell herself that she shouldn't give up on her chance at a relationship, after all, she and Emma hadn't really been together that long. Maybe she had just been irrational about the entire situation and she had a chance at being happy, though she had a hard time believing that there was anyone who could possibly stand up to Emma Swan.

With a final look in the mirror and a steeling breath, she made her way to the door, still trying to convince herself that Robin Hood could be her soulmate, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

* * *

The sound of knives and forks touching the plates was the only sound at the booth as the mayor and thief ate their meals.

The date had started with them exchanging pleasantries and they discussed a few things, but with Regina having had rewritten the course of history, she didn't exactly have anything of note to talk about, other than her job. Talking about the days before the curse were definitely not an option, that wasn't even something that she had gotten around to talking at length about with Emma and she doubted that she would ever tell him about it.

It wasn't that she didn't like him, he was a nice enough man and he was certainly attractive, but it just didn't feel natural.

With Emma, conversation was easy, they were both always prepared with witty comebacks laced with innuendo, and she truly enjoyed talking with the woman before she even knew that she felt that way about her.

With Robin, the conversation was stilted and awkward, she didn't have much to talk about with him and she wasn't comfortable enough to share any of her feelings. She supposed that she was putting some rather unfair expectations upon the man, it was a first date after all. She figured that given time, they could build some kind of rapport and she would certainly have to stop comparing him to Emma.

At that very moment, however, that was not an easy thing to do.

The moment they had entered the diner together; her eyes had fell onto two blondes and a brunette who seemed to be having a 'family meal'. She had desperately tried to think of a reason why they should leave, but her mind had gone completely blank and she found herself being led to a booth well in sight of her ex-girlfriend, her new girlfriend and son.

Robin had looked at her questioningly when she made no attempt to sit and finally she had just resigned herself to a difficult dinner and sat down opposite him.

Now, the blond watched her as he slowly ate his dinner.

It didn't take the most observant of people in the world to notice that she was sparing more glances at the town's sheriff than she had at him.

He didn't know much about the woman, but it was hard to deny that she was one of the most beautiful women in town and he was certainly interested in learning more about her, but he didn't think that she was very interested in learning much about him.

"Regina," he said softly after swallowing the final bite of his meal.

Said woman blinked as she looked over to him and her fell to his empty plate and she realised that she had barely made any progress on her own dinner. Though as she looked at the salad and thought about the image of Emma and Elsa holding hands on the other side of the diner, she found that she was no longer hungry.

Robin inspected her expression and smiled weakly at her, "are you sure that it's me you wish to be having this meal with?"

The brunette opened her mouth to tell him some lie, but she distinctly heard the sound of Elsa giggling and she just allowed her shoulder's to slump and she just shook her head.

"I'm not very hungry," she admitted.

He nodded and looked over to the booth, "how long have you been infatuated with the saviour?"

Regina was about to protest, but she was completely caught off guard, they had basically only just met and he already seemed to know her better than he should, but then she reminded herself that if she had gone into that tavern, he would have been the love of her life. It made complete sense that he was able to read her, and she began wondering whether soulmate automatically meant romantic.

"Is it that obvious?"

Robin smiled at her confirmation and nodded, "I'm no stranger to unrequited love."

The mayor tilted her head, she doubted there was any single woman in town who wouldn't at least consider him. He was attractive, a nice person and it seemed like he made a wonderful father, even if he chose to have a tent as his house.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief.

"It's the reason that I was so eager to accept what your intern told me, I feel like I have waited far too long to be with the person I really wish to be with…I have waited far too long and it no longer seems like a possibility."

The brunette just raised an eyebrow at him and waited for him to decide whether he wanted to tell her, he was about to just allow them to go back to silence, before he realised that she was rather easy to talk to, and at least now they had something to talk about.

"Paige and Roland became friends…" he began.

"Jefferson?" Regina said instantly, it wasn't exactly who she would have thought he would be interested in, but she knew better than most that feelings were rarely ever rational.

"We started spending time together for the children and I don't know what happened, but I can't see him being interested. But I suppose it isn't as painful as your crush," he sighed.

The brunette's throat constricted and she had to stop herself from saying 'you have no idea' as she spared another glance across the diner.

Reaching across the table, she placed her hand lightly over his and said, "it appears that we have some rather strange things in common."

Robin laughed at that and nodded his agreement, "we're both hopelessly infatuated with others?"

Regina smiled at him and nodded and they both silently agreed that their romantic relationship would never work, but there was no reason that they had to stop interacting. They certainly understood each other and the former queen couldn't see why that couldn't be what soulmate meant.

"Maybe you're thirstier than you are hungry?" he suggested and Regina nodded.

The blond raised his hand to call the waitress over, which unintentionally caught the attention of a certain blonde woman across the diner.

Emma looked over to their table, only just realising that the mayor was in the diner at all, and her eyes instantly fell on their hands connected across the table.

Her jaw clenched and she was tempted to go over and break it up somehow, she got the sudden desire to go over there and arrest the thief on some made up charge.

However, when her body subconsciously moved to do what she wanted, she realised that there was someone sat in the booth next to her, blocking her way out.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked with a furrowed brow.

The sheriff opened her mouth to lie and say that she needed the toilet so that she could go and consider why the sight had made her so angry, but before she could, the boy who had five minutes ago said the same thing, joined the table.

Henry fell into his seat across from them and tilted his head at Emma, "what's wrong mom?"

Emma swallowed hard and shook her head, leaning back, "I was just stretching," she mumbled and grabbed her fork, beginning to spear fries very angrily.

The brunette shot Elsa a questioning look, before he looked across the diner at the date he had been tracking covertly.

He had thought that it must have been going terribly based on the awkward silence and every so often, he could have sworn that he had caught the mayor staring at his mother. He had started amending Operation Mongoose as he considered the lyon tattoo that Emma had on her wrist.

But as he looked over, that she had placed her hand on his and they seemed to be having a rather enjoyable discussion, of course, he didn't know that it was about how they were both in love with the unattainable.

"I guess the operation worked," he said between a sigh and a smile, he had really started liking the alternative to his original plan.

"I guess it did," his mother replied bitterly, receiving a very confused look from her girlfriend.

* * *

-The next day-

"I didn't know that you were into thieves," Emma commented continuing to stare at the ice wall.

Regina furrowed her brow and looked over her shoulder at the blonde, she could have sworn that she detected some pretty intense jealousy coming from her, but then she just decided to shake it off.

"I fail to see what that has to do with taking down this," she replied, only taking a small amount of pleasure in how the woman seemed to clench her jaw, as much as it hurt it was still nice to know that she still cared.

The sheriff just crossed her arms and made herself huff only in her mind, she started to repeat her mantra, _you love Elsa, you love Elsa…_

"We have been around it twice, I don't think there is any hole in it, we have to find a way to take it down and it's not as if Elsa can remember how she did this. We may have to resort to magic…But anyway, you do know that Robin lives in the forest, right?"

This time, it appeared that the blonde was completely incapable of keeping the jealousy out of her voice and Regina instantly knew that she still felt something for her. It was both comforting and difficult. On one hand, it was nice to know the saviour was capable of feeling something towards her even through a curse, but on the other, she knew that this was going to make the whole staying away thing harder.

"I'm aware, Miss Swan," she said, trying to hold back some laughter at Emma's narrowed eyes.

"You're supposed to be a queen; you know? Shouldn't you go for someone who at least doesn't live in a tent?" the blonde asked while the pair of them began walking over to the sheriff's cruiser, seemingly both deciding that they weren't going to be finding anything out about the ice wall by simply staring at it.

Regina took her seat in the passenger's seat and considered simply telling the sheriff that she and Robin had just begun to become friends and that a romantic relationship was highly unlikely.

But then she thought back to the months of her own jealousy, even if it was in no way Emma's fault, she thought that she could at least keep this going for a few more minutes. Not least because the saviour's near-pout was rather adorable.

"And who do you suggest that a queen should be with?" the mayor asked as the blonde started the engine.

Emma turned and started driving back towards town as she considered this question, she couldn't think of a single person in town who she could picture being with Regina. Well there was one person, but she blocked that out with, _you love Elsa!_

"Just, you know, someone who at least has a mattress," she sighed knowing that she sounded rather bitter in that moment, she just hoped that the other woman wouldn't catch on.

"Robin does have a house, Miss Swan, he just chooses to spend more time in the forest. As difficult as it is to imagine, there are many people in this town who would be more comfortable in the forest."

"Says the woman with a big ass mansion," Emma huffed.

"Well, as you keep reminding me, sheriff, I was a queen," Regina smirked.

The blonde actually smiled at this, before she blinked, trying to decipher why this conversation felt good.

"I find it hard to believe that you are so firmly invested in the class system," the brunette added.

"I'm not…obviously you can go out with whoever you want to, but does it really have to be Robin Hood?"

"Of course not, it doesn't 'have' to be anyone, and if it sets your mind at ease, Robin and I are not compatible in that way, I believe that we will make decent friends."

Emma couldn't help but smile at that, before her smile fell away and she reminded herself that Regina being single shouldn't be something that filled her with joy.

"I guess it doesn't really make sense to start a relationship now considering that you're planning on leaving town as soon as possible…"

"Yes…" the brunette sighed, for a moment, she had actually forgotten the reason that she was spending time with the sheriff to begin with, but the fact remained that she was planning to leave so that she could get away from not being allowed to spend time with her.

Since their coffee, she had thought that maybe they could be friends, but then she imagined having to be the Maid of Honour at Emma and Elsa's wedding and she instantly decided that wasn't option. If she built even a platonic relationship with the woman, she would be hurt everyday by being so close to her and not being allowed to just grab her and kiss her.

Of course, she could continue avoiding her, having a strictly professional relationship, but she could hardly say that had been working for the past seven months.

"I don't think that there are any options left for me in Storybrooke…"

The blonde frowned and tried to stop herself from suggesting that she just needed to look harder.

"Well I promised to help you find your happy ending and if you think that it's outside of Storybrooke, I guess we should probably start going through some magic books."

"Have you ever read a magic book?" Regina asked flatly.

"Technically no, but I totally read every Harry Potter book and I even read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them…"

The brunette just smiled fondly and shook her head, stopping herself from muttering 'idiot'.

"I don't believe that would make the best baseline for what I have in my vault…"

"Well haven't you already looked through them all?" the blonde asked after a moment, "I mean, you seem like you have been thinking about leaving for a while."

Regina tried to come up with some plausible reason as to why she had yet to start any form of research, before she remembered the saviour's stupid superpower, so she decided to tell some of the reason that she was still here, "I have known nothing but the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke, I'm not very confident in my ability to survive in…the real world…"

Emma pulled up outside of the Town Hall and nodded, "I get that you're scared…maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to just wander out without someone to guide you…"

"If I had someone who would be willing to do that, I believe that there would be no need to leave."

The blonde sighed and nodded, "well I can make you a guide if you decide to go to Boston…"

The brunette smiled at the woman and almost sighed at just how considerate she was, she kind of wished that she would be a terrible person just once, or at least not wear that smile when she offered to help.

Swallowing hard, the brunette quickly smiled and opened the car door, "thank you, Miss Swan."

"Let me know when you want to meet and to carry on with Operation Mongoose," the blonde leaned over and said.

The brunette raised her eyebrows and tilted her head questioningly.

"I figured that since you friend zoned Robin, Henry's operation didn't work, so this can be like Operation Mongoose 2.0."

"Okay…I suppose I'll see you soon, sheriff."

"I look forward to it your majesty."

 **A/N Sorry if Jefferson and Robin is really random, but he was the only available character I could think of since Zelena isn't around. If you have any other ideas for his pairing let me know, but I think I'll stick with this one for now since it's not really all that important to the story.**

 **As always I need to thank QueenApples and PerditusFic, you guys are awesome XD**

 **Let me know what you thought :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

 _"Henry?" Regina asked softly, hesitantly standing on the threshold to his room._

 _"Go away," the ten-year-old mumbled into his pillow._

 _He heard and audible sigh and he could tell by the clicking of heels that she hadn't listened to him, so he just huffed in to the pillow out of frustration._

 _"Henry, you can't just run away whenever you please."_

 _Henry shot up and narrowed his eyes at the woman, "I had something important to do."_

 _"Regardless of whatever you thought you had to do, I have never been so terrified in my life and you are never to leave Storybrooke again without my permission," she retorted, though she was still standing somewhat away from him. Clearly she was still in shock over the identity of the blonde woman who had brought him back. She had often imagined what it would be like if Henry's birth mother was to attempt to take him back, but she had never considered that it would be the brunette boy who led her to Storybrooke._

 _"You can't tell me what to do," he shot back petulantly._

 _"I am your mother Henry Daniel Mills and that means that I can tell you exactly what to do," she replied, she had planned a calm conversation, but whenever he got like this, she had no idea what to do, especially since he seemed to have lost all respect for her._

 _"You're not my real mom!"_

 _"I am more of a mother to you than Emma Swan has ever been," she replied with determination, she hadn't yet lost her will to convince him otherwise just yet._

 _"You're the Evil Queen and she is the saviour," Henry replied, "I know who I prefer."_

 _Regina clenched her jaw, a slight glimmer of mist coming over her eyes at his words, "I'm glad you're back," she admitted after a moment of silence._

 _"Whatever," the younger brunette mumbled._

 _The mayor sighed again and turned on her heels, "go to sleep, Henry."_

 _"That was what I was going to do…"_

An alarm clock rang out, invading Henry's consciousness and he quickly sat up taking deep breaths as he looked around his room. He quickly inspected the posters that had been on the walls of his dream bedroom and some of the collectibles. Even the colour of the room was the same, but it was significantly smaller, which made perfect sense considering that the one from his dream was presumably in the biggest house in town.

Finally, he caught onto what was going on and slammed his hand against the alarm that he must have accidentally set since it was a Sunday morning and he would rather not be awake at seven in the morning, though he doubted he would be able to go back to sleep after his dream.

He wasn't sure if 'dream' was the right word though since it had felt so real, in fact, he considered whether 'flashback' would be more of an apt word.

As much as the idea of Regina having been his adoptive mother was strange, though not particularly all that shocking, the thing that had him freaked out more was the way his dream-self had talked to her.

He began to wonder whether he had ever talked to Emma that way.

Henry knew that he would never bring up her past if they were having a disagreement, because it was such a sensitive issue for her. He couldn't see why bringing up Regina's past wouldn't be seen as sensitive; it was now obvious to him that something must have happened in her past to make her cast the curse.

For a second, he considered telling Emma about the dream to see if she was hiding something, but then it occurred to him that she probably didn't know anything either. The few times that he had seen Regina and the sheriff interact over the past seven months, his mother always seemed eager to talk and it had always been the mayor who had shut it down. He was sure that his mother knew even less than he did, especially when he considered the clear jealousy she had been experiencing in the diner.

The boy swallowed hard as he thought about all of the questions that his dream had brought up and then there was always the possibility that it was just a dream. However, despite how much his dream-self seemed to dislike the mayor, he found that it wasn't the worst thing in the world if she had adopted him.

It certainly explained why she had been so willing to give him an internship and why she tensed whenever he called her Mayor Mills. Though he couldn't really see her as a woman who would give up easily, so if it was all real, as he believed it to be, then he had to wonder just what he had done to push her past her limit. She obviously didn't hate him considering how well she treated him at work, if anything, she just seemed resigned to what fate had given her.

Looking back over at the clock, he realised that it was probably only Elsa in the apartment since Emma had been at work for the past half-an-hour, so he quickly pulled on some clothes and proceeded to sneak out, already planning how he would be demanding answers from Storybrooke's mayor.

* * *

Henry walked as quickly as he could down the street, though his feet faltered when he realised that the mayor usually didn't go to work until about eight in the morning and he couldn't exactly just show up at her front door.

His shoulders slumped and he let out a little huff as he fell onto a bench and he began to go over the dream again in his head.

In the past ten minutes, he had started to actually think about what could have been happening in it and why his memory would have been wiped.

It seemed as though he had just found his 'real mom', which probably meant he had run away. He knew that was usually his reaction to things that he didn't like, but he could never imagine actually leaving the town if he'd had a disagreement with Emma.

Something really bad must have happened for everything to be as it was now and he really, really wanted to know what it was. It had occurred to him that maybe Operation Mongoose didn't just have to be about Regina finding something new, maybe it could be about getting back the happiness that she did have. But that involved figuring out whether or not his dream was true and if he really wanted it to be true. Overall, the young brunette was just confused.

"Henry?" a soft voice asked tentatively.

The boy furrowed his brow at how familiar the sound was and looked up to see the town's resident therapist. He had seen Archie around, but he couldn't recall a single instance in which he had heard him talk.

"Dr Hopper?" he replied with a furrowed brow as he continued to stare at the man who must have been out taking Pongo for his morning walk. Said Dalmatian surged forward and jumped up the brunette boy who he had spent so much time with and began eagerly licking his face.

At first, Henry was thoroughly confused, before a smile began to spread across his face and he brought up both of his hands to pet Pongo.

Eventually, the therapist pulled his dog back and Pongo dutifully sat, though his tail was still wagging uncontrollably as he looked between the two humans.

Archie laughed at the dog before he came sat next to the brunette who had looked like he was contemplating life.

"You can call me Archie," he smiled.

"Okay…" the boy replied.

"So is there something bothering you? You look like something is weighing on your mind," the red-head said softly.

Henry looked around at the near-empty morning street, granted not many people had walked past him, but the therapist was still the only one to have stopped and seemed to genuinely care. In fact, he could have sworn the concern on the therapist's face was more than a mere wish to help someone, he looked oddly invested.

"I had a weird dream, it's not a big deal," the brunette mumbled.

"Something that has a pre-teen out of bed at half seven on a Sunday morning is certainly a big deal, did you not think about talking with your mother about it before coming out here to sit in the cold?"

"My mom's at work…"

Archie nodded and he seemed to consider his next words carefully before he said, "and Elsa?"

The boy just shrugged and offered no reply, it wasn't that he didn't like the princess, he just felt as if there was something fundamentally wrong about their relationship. It had happened too fast and Elsa could only remember her name and the last six months of her and didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by that fact.

"I guess I just need time to think about it before I talk to someone…"

"You know that sometimes thinking aloud can be helpful, maybe if you told someone what the dream was about, or what about it bothers you so much…"

Henry looked at him sceptically for a second, but he found that his mouth started moving before he even thought about what he was saying.

"It was weird, it was a dream but it didn't feel like that…this is going to sound stupid, but I feel like it was memory…"

"Repressed memories often come through the subconscious through dreams," the red-head reasoned, desperately trying to hold back his excitement at the thought that the brunette was beginning to naturally remember, it would certainly be helpful.

"I don't think this is the kind of thing that I could have repressed," the younger of the two replied cryptically. Now that he thought about it logically, it didn't seem possible. Clearly he had just been spending too much time with the mayor and that had translated into an odd dream that he had allowed to freak him out more than it should have.

"You would be surprised what the mind can repress, Henry," Archie urged.

"Trust me, I don't think this is that," the boy replied, letting out a sigh of relief as he decided to just let it go, maybe he could go back home and get in a few more hours of sleep. The brunette jumped up off of the bench and smiled at the therapist, "thanks for listening to me though, Dr…er Archie."

"Any time," the doctor said with a tight smile, desperately trying to hold back a sigh, he had really wanted the boy to at least have an inkling that something was wrong. He wasn't sure that Regina could take any more of this.

"Henry?" someone asked questioningly.

Said boy turned around to see his mother jogging over to him with a to-go cup of coffee and a furrowed brow.

"I can't remember the last time I saw you awake at this time on the weekend," she laughed.

"I set my alarm by accident," he replied carefully, hoping that his half-truth wouldn't set off her superpower.

Emma looked at him sceptically, but she decided that it was too early to question him, she figured that if it was really important, he would either tell her or she would find out eventually.

She was about to tell him to go home, but was abruptly interrupted by the grumbling of the ground accompanied by an ear splitting roar vibrating down Main Street.

The first thing she noticed was Henry's mouth falling open as he looked past her and she span on her heels to see what could be ruining her morning.

When it came into view, the saviour blinked a couple of times, trying to convince herself that she was having some kind of dream. There was no way that there was a big ass snow man stomping its way down the street.

However, its enormous arm smashed into a lamp post and sent it flying halfway down the street, her senses crashed back down around her and she took a deep steeling breath, reaching for her holster.

Henry quickly grabbed her arm and shook his head, "I don't think that bullets will hurt it, mom."

"Well…do you have any other suggestions?" she asked, resisting the urge to tell him to run away, mostly because she knew that he wouldn't do it.

"I don't know…magic?" the brunette asked, looking to Archie for some kind of confirmation that it was possible and the therapist just shrugged his shoulders, desperately pulling the leash so as to stop the barking Pongo from taking on the creature himself.

"Right, magic," the blonde sighed as she pulled out her phone and stared down at it for a moment.

"Mom," Henry shouted when he realised that she had been staring at her phone for far too long, it was a good thing that the street was so empty or someone could have seriously gotten hurt during the sheriff's hesitation.

The blonde quickly unlocked her phone and then stared at her contacts.

Elsa seemed like a good option since her powers seemed to be rooted in snow. As she scrolled past E, she didn't even consider all of the reasons why she wasn't calling her girlfriend, though it was something she was going to be doing extensively later.

"Miss Swan?" came through the device before Emma even realised that she had clicked on Regina's name.

Her mouth went dry for a moment, but she quickly swallowed hard and replied, "we have a situation on Main Street. I think it requires some…magical intervention…"

"What are you talking about?" the brunette sighed and for a second, Emma allowed herself to note how adorable the woman sounded when she was sleepy.

She quickly shook the thought away and held up her phone in the air, as if it knew what she wanted, the snow man roared once again.

Once she was satisfied that her point had been made, she pulled her phone back to her ear and said, "Regina?"

The other end of the line was completely silent and a moment later, the blonde jumped when purple smoke bellowed next to her and the brunette appeared.

Emma stared at Regina in shock for a moment, but the other woman's attention was completely on the threat that was now very close to descending upon Granny's, which pretty much had every person in town who was currently not in their homes.

The former queen's heels clicked against the pavement as she approached the monster and Emma felt the urge to reach forward and pull her back. However, she resisted as she reminded herself that she had called Regina here to kill the beast that she was far too inept at magic to even attempt to even try and defeat it.

Henry watched with rapt attention and he could have sworn that the mayor looked over her shoulder at him with tense facial features, before she turned back towards the monster and ignited two fire balls, one in each palm.

A split second later, she hurled them both at the snow beast and it was soon reduced to a steaming pile of water.

The four people stood in silence, before Henry surged forward to stand in front of the older brunette.

He just about stopped himself from hugging her and resigned himself to bouncing on the balls of his feet excitably, "that was so awesome," he exclaimed.

Regina swallowed hard and offered him a tight smile, she was sure if he'd had his memory he would have found some reason why what had just happened made her evil. More than likely, it would be purely because she had just used magic, the mere act of which seemed to make her the worst person in town.

"…thank you…" she replied awkwardly.

Emma and Archie came over to stand next to the two brunettes and the blonde's eyes fell onto what used to be the snow man, "you know…I thought it would be more difficult than that…"

"Snow and fire tend not to mix," Regina said flatly.

Emma nodded slowly and crossed her arms as she rocked on the balls of her feet, desperately trying to come up with what she could possibly say.

A full five seconds passed, before she realised that there was something rather important that they should be questioning, "do you think that someone created it?"

"I doubt that it spontaneously appeared," Regina sighed, she honestly didn't have the energy to deal with some villain, but she also knew that she could hardly stand on the side lines as someone put her town under threat. Especially since she was fairly certain that she was the only person capable of stopping anyone who had the ability to perform even the simplest of magic tricks.

"I suppose that is something that we should find out," Regina sighed.

 **A/N Hope you guys liked the chapter :)**

 **I'm going to be trying to update this fic every Saturday, once I've figured out a schedule that works, I'll put it up on my profile, but right now it's looking like I should be able to update at least three fics a week :)**

 **Reviews are much appreciated as always XD**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Sorry it's a day late, but better late than never, right? haha I'll try and update next Saturday, but I'm not sure how possible that will be yet...**

Chapter nine

"A snow man attacked Main Street?" Snow repeated sceptically with her arms crossed, she looked around the people who had assembled in the Sheriff's station.

Emma, Elsa, David and Henry, who had refused to go home, all stood around the deputy's desk and against the wall opposite wall, leaned Regina.

Snow had certainly been shocked to find out that the former Evil Queen had been the one to defeat the creature, but she was more surprised that the shock didn't last too long. For some reason, it wasn't completely insane to think that the brunette would actively try and save people, after all, she did have an interest in protecting the town that she lived in.

"Yeah," Emma replied, "and we have literally no idea who could have cast it."

Snow nodded, and tilted her head when she noticed that Henry shot an accusatory look over to Elsa, she really wished that she could understand what her grandson's issue was with the princess, but she wasn't convinced that even he knew. The last seven months had been oddly peaceful, but at the same time, they hadn't quite felt right, it was almost as if there was something missing. Emma had been maintaining an amicable relationship with her and David, but she couldn't help the feeling that there was something getting in the way of them having the kind of relationship that she had always dreamed of having with her daughter. She had always thought that she would treat her child as her own mother had treated her and that her child would love her as unconditionally as she had. On her part, she had been doing all she could to try and treat Emma in that way, but the blonde just seemed reluctant somehow. It had actually hurt how quickly she had decided to move out with Elsa and she often thought about the fact that she knew almost nothing about how their relationship was progressing. She knew that she would have told Eva everything if she had been alive when she had met Charming. However, no matter how much this hurt, she tried to stay focused in the face of whatever this new threat could be, some selfish part of her thought that some strife could serve to bring she and David closer with Emma.

Elsa looked around the silent room and the look she received from Henry didn't go unnoticed as she swallowed hard and tried desperately to think of something useful to say. The harder she tried, however, the more she could feel a headache beginning to develop, as she could every time she tried too hard to remember. The blonde next to her seemed to recognise the look on her girlfriend's face, because it wasn't a second later that she felt the sheriff's fingers slip comfortably into her own. Emma minutely squeezed Elsa's hand and shot her a small smile to tell her that it was okay.

Snow watched the interaction with a small smile, but when she looked up, she instantly furrowed her brow as she noticed just how tense Regina was. Her mind began running through all of the reasons that Elsa and Emma would bother the mayor, but she couldn't come up with a single one. She as pretty sure that her fellow brunette had no interaction with either of them before Henry started his internship and she couldn't see how that could have changed anything between them. The princess decided to file this away for later, since they did have a potential crisis on their hands.

"So we don't know who would be able to send a…snowman to attack Main street? What are we supposed to do if we don't know who we're fighting?" Charming asked, as if he had read his wife's mind that the silence had gone on for far too long.

Regina heaved a sigh and unhitched herself from the wall, "as fun as this pointless endeavour is, I have work to do."

The former Evil Queen was about to walk away, she was sure that if she didn't soon, the urge to fireball Elsa would soon become uncontrollable. As much as it hurt the few times she had been subjected to their public displays of affection, at least she had the chance to leave so that she could try and scrub the mental image away, usually with the most expensive alcohol she could find. Just as she expected, however, she found that this was not a situation that she could so easily escape.

"You can't leave," Henry said quickly jumping up from his seat, he tried to ignore the curious looks he was receiving from his family members, mostly because he wasn't exactly sure himself why he was so desperate for the mayor to stay. "…you're the only person here who has any real knowledge of magic, it isn't like Elsa remembers anything."

The blonde woman flinched and Regina tried hard not to roll her eyes, at this point, she couldn't help thinking that she would gladly give up her memories for the chance to be with the saviour, but she knew that she was just be unrealistic and frankly childish.

"Henry," Emma sighed as she brought her arm around her girlfriend, she was really beginning to wonder whether there was anything that could make her son happy.

"What?" he asked dramatically.

The blonde just sighed again and resigned herself to talking to him about his manners later, when his boss wasn't present, and instead she said, "I think what Henry means to say is that we would really appreciate your help, Regina."

The brunette bit the inside of her cheek and tried to think for a moment of the ways that she could say no, but she just knew that there was no way that she could deny that smile. Against all odds, the very same charming expression that she had found so annoying in the past, was just so endearingly adorable on her enemies' child and she knew that there was no way that she would ever be able to say no to the sheriff.

Instead of replying, she simply nodded and leaned back against the wall.

Snow blinked a couple of times and she quickly looked to David to make sure that had actually happened, which was confirmed when she got the exact same expression as she imagined she was wearing.

"So does anyone have any ideas?" Emma asked after shooting her parents curious looks, she could have sworn that they were having some kind of silent conversation, though she couldn't imagine what it was about.

"Perhaps, instead of waiting for another attack, we would be better to prepare should another one happen," Elsa suggested when it became clear that no one else was going to be forthcoming with ideas.

Emma nodded her agreement and looked over to Regina.

The mayor furrowed her brow, she had a feeling that she knew what they were asking, but she was praying to anyone who would listen that she was wrong.

"What?" she asked, completely incapable of keeping the nerves out of her voice, which caused the Charmings to exchange another confused look.

"If you taught me and Elsa, then we would be able to help if anything else happens," Emma replied.

"I…I can't think of any reason why not," she said through clenched teeth.

"Great," Emma smiled, though she wasn't sure why she was vibrating with excitement.

"The two of you should meet me in my vault tomorrow morning," Regina replied, desperately trying to stave off the sinking feeling in her stomach.

* * *

 _"_ _Henry," Emma sighed, "will you please just eat?"_

 _The brunette boy looked up from the lasagna he had been pushing around his plate and he scowled up at both of the woman sitting opposite him._

 _"_ _I'm not hungry," he grumbled._

 _Hurt passed over Regina's face and she quickly looked over to her girlfriend who was incapable of providing any kind of comforting expression, no matter how hard she tried. Since they had told the boy about their relationship, Emma had been convinced that all it would take for Henry to stop treating his adoptive mother like a villain would be for her to force him to spend time with her. For a foolish moment, she had thought that the three of them would make a pretty perfect family, but their son just seemed to refuse to admit that the woman who had devoted ten years of her life to him, may not have been as evil as the book made her out to be. Frankly, it was really pissing the saviour off, especially in moments like this when she could see the pain so evident on the other woman's face._

 _"_ _You have to eat your dinner, Henry," the sheriff huffed._

 _"_ _Should we really be trusting the things that she cooks?" he mumbled as he violently speared a small portion of the food, but still seemed adamantly against actually putting any of it in his mouth._

 _Emma's eyes widened as his words registered and she looked over to her girlfriend to see the cringe that had taken over her face._

 _"_ _Henry," the blonde said warningly, despite the hand that firmly squeezed hers. The mayor seemed intent on not making an issue of the brunette's behaviour, which was another thing that pissed Emma off. She couldn't quite believe that someone who had endured as much as the brunette could be so down trodden by a ten-year-old. She hated how Regina felt every time he said something horrible to her, but what she hated even more was the other woman's expression when she didn't have the opportunity to spend time with her son. Overall, it was just a very difficult situation and no matter what she tried, her girlfriend just seemed to get more and more hurt._

 _"_ _What?!" Henry asked defensively._

 _The saviour narrowed her eyes at the boy and began formulating some kind of lecture, but she knew that it was something she would be giving to him later since she didn't want Regina to see how defensive he got when she tried to desperately convince him to treat his mother with respect._

 _"_ _Go and do your homework," she sighed._

 _"_ _I left my school bag at home," he replied, putting extra emphasis on the word 'home'._

 _Emma rolled her eyes, "go to your room so that we can finish our food in peace."_

 _Henry considered arguing that his room wasn't in this mansion, but he thought better of it since he knew that he would get to leave here as soon as Emma and Regina finished eating._

 _He hopped up off the chair and walked towards the stairs; however, an idea occurred to him and he walked lightly back over towards the dining room, leaning against the outside wall so that he was just about out of sight, but he could still see them._

 _The boy held his breath and paid attention to listening hoping to find some kind of proof that his theories about the reality of their relationship were true._

 _"_ _I'm sorry Gina," he heard Emma sigh and even though her back was to him, he could tell that she had shifted closer to him, "I really think that he will come around eventually."_

 _"_ _Perhaps in the meantime, there is no use in forcing him to spend time with me, Emma," Regina replied sadly._

 _The blonde sighed again and Henry cringed when he realised that she had leaned forward to capture the other woman's lips in a short, but no doubt, reassuring kiss._

 _Pushing himself off the wall, he made his way over to the stairs and went up them as quietly as humanly possible. A few seconds later, he dropped heavily onto his bed and looked around his bedroom. It made no sense that the mayor who would have done anything to stop Emma spending time with him before the curse broke would be so resigned to him living with the saviour now._

 _He had been sure that it wasn't Emma's choice to force him to spend time with the woman who he saw as the Evil Queen, but increasingly, he began to notice that Regina seemed to have given up in a way. For example, she hadn't spoken a single word while he was at the table._

 _He took a deep breath and allowed the usual barrage of excuses for why her behaviour could be seen as evil to flood through his mind. After a few moments, he settled on the fact that her change in behaviour meant that she was planning something. It made perfect sense to him that she had no reason to act as fiercely protective as she had in the past if she had some kind of plan to get things to be exactly how she wanted them._

 _Armed with this conviction, he rose the bed and walked over to his desk to pull a notebook towards him, on the front he wrote 'Operation Anti-SwanQueen'._

"Henry," a soft voice broke through the boy's consciousness.

Said boy groaned slightly as he allowed himself to take in the fact that it was just a dream, though this one somehow felt more real than the last one. Maybe it was because Emma had been present this time?

"Henry, it's time to get up for school," Snow urged him softly, "I definitely can't be late…"

The brunette finally gave in and opened his eyes, offering his grandmother a reassuring, yet sleepy smile, he said, "I'm up, I swear. Has mom and Elsa already left?"

"Yes," the older brunette sighed and Henry noticed just how tense she was. He thought about telling her that Regina wouldn't do anything bad to them, but he thought better of it. He sincerely doubted that his word would change a decades old feud, but he was sure that if the princess simply spent some time with the mayor, then she would be able to let go of any worries about her daughter spending time with the former Evil Queen.

"Okay…I should probably get ready, grandma," he chuckled as she continued to awkwardly stand near his bed.

"Right…I'll go and finish your breakfast then…"

Henry nodded and she swiftly turned on her heels. Whenever he stayed over at her apartment, he always got the distinct feeling that she was more than happy to be looking after him, but it seemed as though she wished a certain blonde would spend just as much time here as he did.

The brunette sighed at the thought of the seemingly strained state of his mother's relationship with her own parents and he stretched as he rose from what used to be the saviour's bed.

As he walked over to his bag to pull out his school uniform, he allowed his mind to drift back to the dream.

Last night, he had stared at the ceiling for an hour, trying to resist sleep since he didn't feel like having another one of those dreams. As much as he tried to convince himself that they meant nothing, he had still spent a fair amount of time thinking about his first one the previous day, even despite the snowman attack he had witnessed.

Logically, it was just a fabrication of his subconscious, but it just seemed so real and he doubted that his mind would have randomly made up two separate scenes two nights running.

Plus, the image of Regina's downtrodden expression was now stuck firmly in his mind's eye. She had certainly looked pained by his words in the first dream, but this time, it just seemed so much worse. She had looked somewhat broken, not even bothering to speak a word throughout the entire dinner and Emma looked exasperated.

If the kiss that his dream-self had seen was in anyway real, then that would explain so much and at the same time nothing at all. His mother had so obviously been in love with the mayor during the dream, and he could see why his disapproval would hurt.

All in all, the boy was just confused about everything and he wished that there was some way that he could get clarity.

Reaching into his overnight bag, he looked for his socks and as his hand tightened around them, he let out a sigh as he realised what he had forgotten to pack. An idea occurred to him as he remembered a detail from his dream and he smiled slightly at his own genius.

The boy made short work of going to the bathroom and dressing as quickly as possible, before he ran down the stairs and announced, "I left my English homework at home."

Snow looked up from the toast she was setting on the table and resisted the urge to sigh, "I have to get to school early, Henry, you can just give it to me later."

"That's not really fair, grandma," the younger brunette pointed out.

"He's right, Snow," David chuckled, "you can't give him an extension just because he's your grandson."

The princess narrowed her eyes playfully at her husband and he just smirked.

"Grab some toast, Henry, we'll go and get your homework."

-Ten minutes later-

"Hurry, Hen, we don't have much time," Charming announced as he pulled up outside of Emma's apartment building.

"Grandma won't give me a detention for being late," Henry countered.

"You just told her that she can't give you preferential treatment, you can't have it both ways."

The brunette pouted, but quickly left the car anyway and ran up the steps.

It wasn't long before he arrived at his room and rushed over to his desk, searching intently through his pile of notebooks.

He blew out a breath of relief when he realised that it wasn't there, but furrowed his brow when he noticed that he had yet to see his English homework in his massive pile of paper.

He bit his lip before he remembered the paper falling behind his desk the previous night, he had every intention of grabbing it, but Emma had called him for dinner.

Henry let out a sigh as he leaned over and pulled out his phone to use as a flashlight, he let out a sigh of relief as he reached down to grab the manila folder, but he furrowed his brow as he felt his knuckle brush against something else.

He quickly adjusted his grip to grab both items and it didn't take long to realise that the other thing was a notebook.

The boy felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and he thought about just dropping it back down there and not thinking about it. But this idea soon left his mind and he dropped the folder aside.

He swallowed hard as he ran his hand over the words 'Operation Anti-SwanQueen', and he bit his lip hard when he saw the word 'complete' written underneath in his handwriting.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought XD**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

"What language is this? Spanish?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow as she flicked through the magical tome.

Elsa smirked at her girlfriend and said, "is it really a good idea to look through Regina's stuff before she gets here?"

"Is it my fault that she's late?"

The other blonde rolled her eyes and took the book from her, "she's not late, we were just early…which now that I think about it, is pretty out of character for you…"

Emma bit the inside of her cheek, she had a perfectly reasonable explanation for her unusual punctuality, but she couldn't exactly tell her girlfriend that it was because she was eager not to miss a minute of her available time with Regina. She had finally admitted to herself that she was attracted to the mayor, but that didn't have to mean anything. The brunette woman was planning to leave town soon anyway, so none of this would matter. Once she was gone, the saviour could go back to having absolutely no doubts about her relationship.

"I just figured that this is pretty important," Emma mumbled as she made to pick up the book again, but her hand stopped mid-air when she heard the distinctive clicking of heels that made butterflies explode in her stomach.

Both blondes turned around to see Regina looking at them in surprise, she clearly hadn't expected them to get here before them, even if she had told Emma how to get into the vault just encase they did.

"Good morning," she said once she had gotten over her surprise.

Emma smiled at her and Elsa was about to do the same before she frowned and looked over to her fellow blonde. She tried to remember whether she had ever seen the woman smile like that when she had walked into a room, but she quickly brushed it off as simple paranoia.

Regina walked over to the two of them and stopped herself from taking a steadying breath. She had been trying to mentally prepare herself for this emotional torture all night, but that had just resulted in having no sleep.

"So what exactly is it you wish for me to teach you?" she asked, trying not to sound resigned which she only just about managed.

Emma looked over to Elsa to see if she knew the answer to that, she honestly hadn't thought that far ahead.

When it became clear that she had no idea either, the sheriff shrugged and said, "I don't know…just the basics I guess…"

The brunette closed her eyes in frustration but nodded anyway, she had hoped that they would at least know something between them, but of course they didn't.

Half an hour later, Regina had systematically explained the different types of magic and the sub-categories. She explained that Elsa was likely an elemental magic user, whereas Emma was a light magic user and therefore capable of a far more diverse range of spells.

When she had suggested that this meant that Emma would probably need more lesson, she could have sworn that she had felt Elsa's eyes burning into her soul. She had, of course, shrugged this off since she was not the least bit afraid of the princess.

"Any questions?" the mayor asked through gritted teeth, desperately wishing that this ordeal would be over soon.

Emma tilted her head and wondered whether the woman had ever been this tense during the time that they had spent together, but then she remembered that she had worn a similar expression when Elsa had interrupted their coffee. Was she jealous?

The blonde quickly pushed this thought away and said, "maybe you could actually show us a spell?"

Regina sighed at the childish inflection to the woman's voice, she just knew that Emma wouldn't be able to take this completely seriously. Rolling her eyes, she just nodded, "I suppose that a simple shield won't be too arduous for a first lesson and it would certainly be useful for the town sheriff to be capable of it."

Emma nodded vigorously and Elsa frowned at her again.

The brunette offered a short explanation of how to create a shield that would protect against weak spells, she gave a demonstration and said, "for elemental magic, you can create a similar effect by forming a barrier of your element."

Elsa nodded and focused on doing what she had been told, desperately wishing that she would look nearly as cool as Regina had when she had shown them how to do it.

When she opened her eyes, she smiled at the thin sheet of ice that had formed itself in front of her.

Emma watched in fascination, she was mesmerised by the small pieces of ice that had formed around the blonde. Though she did notice Elsa giving Regina a triumphant grin and he stomach clenched as she wondered whether she hadn't been as successful at hiding her attraction as she had thought.

In her worry, she didn't notice that the princess seemed to have lost control after a few seconds, at least she didn't notice until the ice went flying out of control and she found herself thrown against the wall.

The sheriff let out a grunt as she fell to the floor and she looked up, instantly realising that Regina must have realised what was going to happen just in time to create a shield for herself.

"Oh my God, Emma," Elsa squeaked as she ran over to the other woman and fell to her knees.

The other blonde shifted so that she was on her knees herself and she cradled her right wrist in her left hand.

"Are you okay?" the princess asked, looking at the affected area, hoping that she hadn't caused her too much pain simply because she was irrationally jealous,

"I think I need to go to the hospital," she sighed, "it might be sprained."

Elsa sighed and was about to turn to apologise to Regina, but the brunette just walked over and leaned down.

More gently than Emma thought possible, she brought her fingers around her painful wrist and she felt the same calming sensation she had felt all those months ago after the ice wall.

A moment later, the pain was completely gone and she sighed in relief, "thank you."

Regina just nodded and rose to her feet, trying to maintain a mask of calm, "I believe we have more work to do."

Elsa hopped to her feet and helped Emma up, protectively bringing her arm around her shoulder.

The brunette rolled her eyes at the sight, if only the princess actually knew the extent to which she should really be jealous, she was sure that she wouldn't have allowed this lesson to even take place.

She quickly shrugged off this thought and said, "perhaps we should stick to theory for a while."

Each blonde nodded and Regina went over to a pile of books, as she picked one up, she couldn't help but think that this was going to be a long day.

* * *

Henry bit his lip and considered whether this was a good idea.

At this point, he was very aware that he would be getting in trouble for sneaking out of school during lunch and it wasn't as if his own grandmother wouldn't notice that he wasn't in class in about ten minutes.

Even so, he knew that there was no way that he would be learning anything, as evidenced by the fact that he had spent the entirety of the morning trying to covertly read what was in that notebook.

It was full of plans to break apart Emma and Regina and each word was in his handwriting, and as he got further and further through the pages, he could tell that he must have been getting more and more frustrated. Until the last page that was, which held an account of how he had convinced Regina that they should break-up.

The whole thing was confusing to him.

His dreams suggested that he hadn't wanted them together because he thought she was evil, but if he had managed to convince her to end a relationship for him, then how could she be evil? If what he had seen in his two dreams had been true, then she had been willing to give up everything for him and he had clearly been too stubborn to see that. Honestly, he hated the boy that he had seen during his sleep and he couldn't really understand why Regina would give up anything for someone who could be such a brat.

As he thought back to her sad expression in each of what he was now convinced were almost certainly memories, he hardened his resolve and brought up his fist to knock at the door.

A moment later, the door opened to reveal a ginger man who looked at the brunette outside his office questioningly, "is everything alright, Henry?" Archie asked.

Henry bit his lip and shook his head, not opening his mouth to even try and offer an explanation. He had thought about what he would say, but there was just no way to say his theories out loud without feeling like he was completely insane. That was the reason why he had decided against going to see Regina.

If there was some reasonable explanation for all of this, then he didn't want to have to deal with the consequences of asking the mayor if she was secretly his adoptive mother, who used to date his birth mother, before he broke them up. As much as he wanted answers, he also wanted to keep his internship.

When he had decided against it, he remembered just how insistent Archie had been that his dreams were more than just random images. There was no doubt in his mind that Storybrooke's resident therapist knew something and he seemed far more likely to tell the truth.

"I had another dream and I found this," he finally admitted, thrusting the notebook towards Archie.

The man blinked a couple of times, before he looked down at the cover and allowed his eyes to run over the words a couple of times. Once he understood exactly what they meant for lie he had been desperately trying to maintain, he let out a sigh, though he didn't know whether it was out of relief or fear.

Taking a step back, he said, "you should come in."

The brunette nodded and walked in quickly, he didn't even think about it as he made his way over to the couch and dropped down next to Pongo. The Dalmatian was fast asleep, though he did left his head at the interruption before placing it back down, this time on Henry's lap as he continued his midday nap.

Henry looked around the office and he felt a crushing sense of Daja vu. He was sure that he had never been inside this room and yet, he had automatically chosen the most comfortable seat and the usually excitable dog seemed completely used to his presence.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the man who came to seat in the chair opposite him and he asked, "can you please tell me what's going on?"

Archie bit his tongue and considered his next move.

On one hand, if he told Henry and he ended up remembering, it had the potential to make everyone happy. He was very much convinced that when the brunette remembered, he would see that Regina would do anything for him and he would spend much of his time trying to make it up to the woman who had raised him. Emma and Regina could be together and he was sure that David and Snow would be able to get used to the situation. Eventually, it would all become the norm and everyone would have had their happy ending.

On the other hand, Henry did have somewhat of a talent for finding reasons not to trust the former Evil Queen. He could tell himself that she cast this curse as a way of lulling everyone in town into a false sense of security. If everyone got their memories back, then he could continue with the attitude that he had seven months ago. If that happened, then Regina would be completely emotionally destroyed. Though he knew she would never admit this out loud, having her son as her intern had given her hope and if that was dashed, there was no way that she would ever allow herself to feel that way again, even on the off chance that she would be able to find happiness outside of Storybrooke, he doubted that she would ever be able to embrace it.

Henry watched the internal battle that the therapist was facing and swallowed hard, he was aware that the situation must have been complicated, but he just wanted to know the truth.

"Please?" he urged, his voice cracking slightly through his desperation.

Archie's eyes travelled over his face and he made a decision, in front of him sat a boy who just wanted his mother, he just didn't know that she was his mother yet.

"Emma gave you up for adoption because she wanted to give you your best chance, Regina adopted you. Mary Margaret gave you your storybook and went to find Emma because you were convinced that the town was cursed and that she would be able to break the curse…"

The therapist stopped and inspected the boy, making sure that he should continue.

Henry sat stunned and tried to acquiesce this information with the memories he had of Emma Swan. He remembered his first day at school, he cried when he realised that his mother was leaving. He took a moment to replace the blonde in his memory with the mayor and he swallowed hard when it didn't seem completely wrong. He could somehow imagine not wanting Regina to leave him, but it seemed that he had changed his mind and she had given him exactly what he wanted to make him happy. Now he could see what was missing for the past seven months and he knew that she hadn't given him happiness, because he had been unable to see what he had.

"And?" he prompted after a moment.

Archie shot him a sympathetic look, though he was relieved that he hadn't completely brushed off what he had said as an insane lie. It was certainly interesting that it hadn't taken long at all after his internship for Henry to start wishing to spend more time with Regina. It seemed as though his subconscious missed the mayor and spending time with her was the trigger it needed to remind him of the memories that he had been forced to forget.

"To make a very long story short, when the curse broke, Emma and Regina began a romantic relationship that you were very uncomfortable with. You asked Regina to break up with her and she did. Emma was heartbroken, so Regina cast the curse to have everyone in town forget that she ever adopted you, she believed that no one remembering how she was involved in their lives would make everyone happy."

"And you?"

"Regina didn't want to be completely alone…" Archie admitted, "if she didn't have someone to talk to through all of this, I don't think she would have been quite as capable of maintaining her façade."

Henry nodded slowly, even if he couldn't remember everything about the woman, he somehow knew that would make sense. It seemed completely plausible that Regina would be the type to give up everything for the people she loved and then would find herself on another self-destructive path. Choosing to allow Archie to remember was a way to prevent this, so that she could prevent some kind of relapse into true evil.

"What…what should I do?" Henry asked in a small voice. Though he believed everything he had been told, his memories were still incomplete, he was sure that there was no way that he could have the same emotional connection to his adoptive mother considering he only had a few glimpses of the time they had spent together. To add to that, he could only remember instances when it was obvious that he believed he hated her. He didn't have the urge to go to her right at this moment in order to demand answers and he knew that the reason was because there was so much he wished to remember.

"What do you think you should do?"

"Operation Mongoose," Henry whispered, "I promised to help her find her happy ending and she knew what it was all along…"

"I believe she may have formed a new idea of what her happy ending may be," Archie sighed, "she believes that leaving town will be best for everyone involved…"

"What?! No!" Henry almost shouted as he shot off the couch.

The sudden movement woke Pongo up and the dog growled at the boy who had thrown his head off his lap. Henry looked apologetically at him before he patted his hand on the dog's head and fell back onto the couch.

"As long as she believes that there is nothing here for her, I think that leaving will be the most attractive option for her…"

"You seemed really willing to tell me the truth," the brunette frowned, "why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Because Regina is more than convinced that you remembering would just cause her more pain, and I honestly think that she has every right to believe that."

"Was I really that bad?" the boy asked in a small voice.

"She loved you unconditionally and in return she received hate," the therapist replied, he knew he was being harsh, but from his experience, Henry learnt better from shock tactic. "She gave you exactly what you wanted and when she thought she finally had something with Emma, you took that away from you. After all of that, the main thing she talks about is wanting you to be happy. She gave up everything for you and in return, all she has gotten is being trapped in a town where she gets to watch the people she loves being happy without her."

Henry's mouth fell open.

That was certainly not what he had expected the gentle-tempered man to say, he had expected some kind of reassurance that what he had done wasn't that bad and that he still had time to make things better.

"However, it was a version of yourself that you cannot remember who caused Regina so much misery. Since you have started your internship, you have given her hope and I believe you are now in a position to make things better. You can restore things to how they should be."

The brunette relaxed slightly at the words he had hoped to hear, but he tensed again when a thought occurred to him, "how am I supposed to convince everyone in town that she isn't evil?"

The ginger man smiled at the boy, before he replied, "I believe that before you can do that, you need to remember more."

Henry frowned, but nodded anyway.

He wondered whether he could ask his blonde mother, but considering that she had spent her morning in a beginners magic lesson, he highly doubted she could help. He was still more than apprehensive to talk to Regina, which left him with only one option. Which was certainly something that he shouldn't tell Archie since he would almost certainly stop him.

"Okay…I guess I just have to think on it," Henry sighed, hoping that the therapist would catch the small lie. He certainly wasn't going to put his plan into action right away. The boy still needed time to process everything. Even if he was sure that he believed everything he had been told without the smallest amount of doubt, he still needed time to accept this as reality. "Thank you."

Archie smiled at him, all of the tension from the past seven months leaving his body, he was sure that armed with the truth, Henry now had the opportunity to make Operation Mongoose a success.

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed XD let me know what you thought :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Hey guys, I just have seven days left of uni and then I'll be free to write as much as I want XD so I just need to ask you guys to be patient for a little longer and I also want to thank everyone who stuck around through the lack of updates :)**

Chapter eleven

 _"Where are you taking me, Miss Swan?" Regina asked in faux frustration as she allowed herself to be led by the blonde woman who she had allowed to blindfold her._

 _"Patience, madam mayor," the sheriff chuckled, dropping her hands from her girlfriend's shoulders to her waist as brought her closer and continued to lead her forward._

 _"I do not enjoy being blindfolded, especially when I was forced to get into the metal death trap that you claim is a car."_

 _"I didn't force you to do anything Regina," the blonde replied with a smirk, "if you were really against it, you could have just singed off my eyebrows out of protest."_

 _"I would never singe off your eyebrows, Emma," the brunette chuckled, "I am rather partial to your face."_

 _"You are so charming, your majesty," the saviour whispered close to her ear and Regina felt a shiver go down her spine at the contact._

 _She smiled, and after a few seconds, she felt the blind fold being taken off her face and her facial expression went from confusion before it became clear where they were._

 _Her smile widened and she turned in Emma's embrace so that she could see her face, "I was under the impression that you hate horses…"_

 _"I'm…not fond," Emma replied, "but you love them, so I should really learn to tolerate them…"_

 _Regina tilted her head and quirked her brow in amusement, "tolerate?"_

 _"That is the most you will get out of me…" the blonde smirked, "I more than tolerate you if that helps…"_

 _The brunette shook her head, and leaned forward to capture the other woman's lips in her own, before she leaned back and replied, "you are a ridiculous human being, Emma."_

"Emma, are you okay?"

Said woman sat up quickly and looked around her. She blinked a couple of times, taking in the fact that she was currently in her bedroom, the one that she shared with her girlfriend, Elsa.

Looking up she took in the confused expression of the blonde and tried to shake off the fact that Regina was still currently filling all of the senses, _you love Elsa._

The blonde nodded and slowly got up from the bed, stretching as she crossed the room so that she was standing in front of the other woman.

"I'm guessing my nap was longer than planned," the sheriff chuckled while she brought up her hands to rest on her girlfriend's waist and tried desperately to push aside the thought that this had felt so much more natural with Regina.

Elsa smiled half-heartedly and nodded. After their magic lesson, she had felt so bad and it was only made worse by the fact that all Emma wanted to do was go home and take a nap. It was for this reason that the princess has been so anxious to come and see if she was okay after the hours that she had promised she would be asleep for.

"No it was exactly an hour," Elsa chuckled weakly, "but your mother called and asked if we wanted to meet her for dinner…"

Emma's shoulders slumped and she felt the usual pang of guilt in her stomach for her instinct to not spend time with her parents. There was just something that made her so angry whenever she was around them and the fact that she couldn't figure it out was more frustrating than anything she could imagine. At first she had thought that it was part of her abandonment issues, but that just didn't seem right somehow. Which was why she had been spending much of the past seven months pretending everything was fine between them. She would hate for Henry to miss out on the chance to have grandparents just because she had this irrational anger towards them. Today, however, she just didn't feel up to it.

"Maybe we could just stay in and have dinner together? Henry can go with my parents…"

Elsa tilted her head in confusion before she just nodded.

She had often wondered why her girlfriend seemed so uncomfortable around her parents, but she never felt that it was her place to ask about it for some reason. She decided against it once again simply because Emma was asking to spend time with her, which was not something she would be passing up considering the burning jealousy she had felt whenever she saw the sheriff with the mayor.

"That sounds wonderful," she replied with a tight smile, taking the opportunity to lean forward and capture Emma's lips in her own as she had done many times before.

The other woman stayed frozen for a second as her mind immediately began to compare this kiss to the one she had just experienced in her dream. For some reason that she could vividly imagine the kiss with Regina. She could see herself breathing in through her nose and instantly becoming intoxicated with the smell of spiced apples as their mouths moved slowly against one another.

When Elsa pulled away, Emma felt a pang in her stomach when she realised that she had basically been picturing Regina throughout the entire kiss.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Elsa asked with a furrowed brow.

Her fellow blonde swallowed hard and nodded, "I was just thinking that we should get pizza…"

With that she began walking out of the room, adamantly refusing to look at her girlfriend who just followed behind her with a frown.

* * *

- _Seven months ago-_

 _Regina looked around her, triple checking that no one would be witnessing the establishment she was about to walk into._

 _Her son and his grandparents already didn't trust her, so being seen going into the local pawn store certainly wouldn't help her case, not that it would matter if the owner agreed to her plan._

 _Snow's words had been playing on her mind since the night she had broken up with Emma, but it_

 _wasn't until they were repeated by Henry that she knew what she had to do._

 _It was a rather elegant solution in her opinion._

 _All of the issues that were occurring in the Charming family at the moment were all her fault. She knew there was nothing natural that she could do to convince her ex-girlfriend that she should start being a mother to the reason they had broken up._

 _Henry had managed to get what he wanted, but he still looked miserable, which was not something she would ever be able to deal with, especially when he had told her what it was she could do fix everything._

 _She knew for a fact that there were many spells and curses designed to rewrite memories. All she would have to do was tweak the course of history slightly, so that she never adopted Henry, meaning that she never would have been asked on a date by the saviour. She had actually spent hours working through all of the details to ensure that everything would be as it should be, including finding a plausible reason why Emma and Henry Swan would have stumbled upon Storybrooke._

 _With a deep breath, the brunette hardened her resolve and pushed the door open, the bell instantly ringing out to announce her arrival._

 _To her surprise, Mr Gold was already looking expectantly at the door with a smirk on his face._

 _"I was wondering whether you would ever decide to come in, dearie," he chuckled as she made her way over to the counter._

 _Regina rolled her eyes in irritation and gritted her teeth. No matter how many dealings she'd had with this imp in her life, he never seemed to get any less insufferable._

 _The man raised his eyebrows at her lack of counter quip and he took a moment to inspect her. She looked utterly drained and resigned which was not something he had ever expected to see from Regina Mills. He had witnessed her experience almost every emotion, but never resignation, she had always been far too resilient, even in her darkest times._

 _"Judging by your expression, I would say that you wish to make some kind of deal…what will it be today, madam mayor?" he asked trying to keep up his smirk, he certainly didn't want to admit that there was a part of his mind that had always felt bad for what he had done to this once innocent woman. Before she had even been born, her fate had been decided by him when he had devised his plan to have the Dark Curse enacted._

 _Regina blew out a breath and replied, "I believe I have found a rather elegant solution to…my current issues…"_

 _"You mean the sheriff's issues?" he replied with a slight smirk, he may have felt a small amount of remorse, but he was still the Dark One, which meant he just couldn't resist._

 _The brunette rolled her eyes and just nodded minutely before she continued, "Emma is unable to see that she should be moving on from our relationship and it is impacting her ability to be Henry's mother…Henry deserves to be raised in a home, free from hatred and resentment…"_

 _"I agree, your majesty, but it does seem as though the saviour truly does love you, you cannot honestly expect her to just move on so quickly…You of all people should understand what it is like to not have been allowed to mourn for a relationship," he said, and the brunette looked at him in shock for a second. She often forgot that Gold was once a mortal man who understood emotions perfectly, but every so often he would show a glimmer of humanity that had some people questioning whether he was quite as dark as he first appeared to be. Then he would do something despicable and she would completely forget why she had ever doubted his darkness._

 _"Which brings me to my plan," she said with a sigh._

 _The man just nodded, resisting his urge to say some kind of quip. He could guess what she was about to suggest and he instantly had an idea of how it could help him._

 _"By rewriting the memories of everyone in town, everyone would be able to get what they want…"_

 _"Expect for you, this is uncharacteristically self-sacrificing of you, madam mayor," he chuckled, mostly because he was somewhat happy that his assumptions had been correct._

 _"Curses require sacrifices, in this case, it will have to be that I will remember," she replied while actively avoiding eye contact, for fear that his smirk would make her change her mind._

 _"Excellent plan, but pray tell why you have come to me."_

 _Regina bit her lip and replied, "I need your help to write the curse to ensure everyone is effected…I also wanted to make sure that Emma would be able to move on."_

 _Rumple raised his eyebrow and said, "so you're just here to discover whether this precious curse of yours will be successful?"_

 _The brunette slightly inclined her head and waited for him to do what they both knew she wanted. Slowly, the Dark One picked up the closest reflective item and held it up. A moment later, it began to shimmer to reveal an image of two blonde woman standing in an embrace. One of the leaned back and captured the other's lips in her own in a sweet kiss._

 _Regina instantly winced when she recognised one of the blondes as her ex. She came to the conclusion that she didn't know the other one, so she looked up questioningly at her former teacher._

 _Rumple felt a small twinge of guilt at the woman's expression, but as always he was able to quickly move passed it. After all, it wasn't his fault that she must have been harbouring some kind of foolish hope that Emma Swan would somehow never be able to move on._

 _"Her name is not important, the point is that she will be able to provide your dear saviour with the happiness that you cannot. Simply write her part into the curse and everything will fall into place."_

 _Regina narrowed her eyes at the man, suddenly becoming very aware that he was seemingly all for her plan. She had honestly expected him to mock her and for him to tell her that her love life, or lack thereof, was of no interest to him._

 _"What do you want?" she asked suspiciously._

 _The man's eyebrows shot up and he couldn't help but smirk at the brunette in amusement, "you do realise that you came to me your majesty?"_

 _The brunette just shook her head and looked at him expectantly until he admitted:_

 _"I see no reason why this little rewrite of yours cannot benefit both of us. You wish for your love to find happiness with another and I wish for my love to forget that she has already done so."_

 _Regina clenched her jaw and took a deep breath as she took this, "your price is that I take away Ruby and Belle's happiness?"_

 _Rumple nodded and replied, "if Emma can believe that she is happy with this woman, then surely Belle can believe the same with me."_

 _"You're despicable," the former queen sighed, resisting the urge to place her head in her hands. She couldn't quite believe that she had already accepted his offer in her mind. Ruby was one of the only people who seemed willing to accept the legitimacy of their relationship and now she was going to be taking away her girlfriend. "Fine," she finally ground out, "…as long as Archie is allowed to retain his memories."_

 _Rumple tilted his head and looked at her questioningly for a moment; however, he quickly decided that he didn't actually care and with a flick of his wrist, a contract appeared in his hand._

 _"Sign here and you will get all of the misery you could ever need," he chuckled while handing the brunette a pen._

 _Regina stared blankly at the words for a moment. She quickly scanned the words, not instantly seeing any kind of loopholes that the imp could be planning to capitalise on. So instead, she fixated on the clause that detailed just how happy Emma would be without her._

 _Swallowing hard, she clutched the pen tightly and just about managed to neatly sign her name on the bottom._

* * *

Henry stared blankly at the sheet of equations in front of him.

After his talk with Archie, he had decided that he was far from ready to unravel everything he had been told. It was one thing to believe that his boss was the adoptive mother that he had driven over the edge, but it was another to completely come to terms with that fact. When he thought the word 'mom', images of Emma still popped into his head. However, now when he imagined Regina performing the same tasks that the saviour had in his memories, he was far from repulsed by the idea. He could see Regina comforting him when he was sick, reading him comic books just before bed, telling him off for running in the house. It all felt so right, which was why he couldn't really see any reason that he would have wanted it to end.

Shooting a covert look over to the kitchen area, where his grandparents were preparing him dinner and once he decided that they weren't really paying much attention to him, he reached down and pulled out the notebook he had found earlier that day.

Swallowing hard, he ran his hand over 'Operation Anti-Swanqueen'. It was so strange to see that the words were so obviously written in his hand, which was one of the reasons that he had been so afraid to open it to discover what the actual operation had involved. He felt a pit in his stomach at the thought that he was the reason that Regina was always alone and so unhappy. Even after spending a very small amount of time with the woman, he had found that he had some kind of bond with her, but at the same time he detected that there was a certain discomfort about her.

Taking a steeling breath, he turned the front page to be met with a mind map. He blinked a couple of times before he realised that these must have been his theories as to why Regina would date Emma. His past self seemed to have put a lot of thought into the idea that Regina had taken Emma's heart, but there was also a theory that she had made the blonde fall in love with her just so that she could destroy her by ending it.

The brunette boy took a deep breath, wishing that he could berate this version of himself that he couldn't remember. Though he himself had some theories about the way that the mayor felt for the sheriff, the new information had put into better perspective what he had seen at the station. Regina had looked devastated at the sight of his blonde mother and Elsa making out and at the time he had found the whole thing too gross to even consider that it was jealousy. But now that he thought about it, there was more behind her expression than sheer envy, there was also resignation.

"Henry?"

The brunette snapped the notebook shut and looked up rather guiltily to see Snow and David staring at him with questioning expressions from behind the counter.

"Did you hear me?" the brunette of the pair asked with a slightly worried expression.

Henry shook his head and quickly put on a reassuring expression, "I guess I was zoned out…"

Snow looked over at Charming, silently asking him if they should question this further or just take the boy at his word, and at her husband's nod, they both agreed to go with the latter.

"Dinner's ready, you can finish your homework after you've eaten," the princess said as she picked the dish of salad she had prepared and walked over to place it on the table.

As she did so, Henry covertly placed the notebook back in his bag, carefully watching Charming, who was pouring drinks for them, as he did so. Once he was satisfied that he had gotten away with it, he followed his grandmother's lead as she sat down for her food. Charming followed suit a few moments later and the three of them fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence as they began to eat.

Every so often, the youngest of the three would look up at them as he considered the question he wanted to ask them. He had no doubt that they must have had some issue with Regina and Emma, since it didn't really make sense that a young boy would have the power to make decisions for his parents without some other adult influence. For a few moments, he continued to consider how he could ask his question without rousing suspicion.

Finally, he decided that he would just have to try and hide who he was talking about, as he said, "do you think that villains should get happy endings?"

Snow looked up from her plate, looking somewhat dumbstruck at the random question and she looked over to her husband to see if he knew what had prompted this, but he looked just as confused as she felt.

"Of course they can…" she replied, sounding somewhat unsure.

"So why does Mayor Mills always look so sad?" he asked, "I mean, she does really seem that bad…"

His grandmother swallowed hard and considered his question.

To be honest, she hadn't really acknowledged the fact that Regina existed since she had been told that she had saved Emma's life and now she felt a twinge of guilt. The last thing her 'nemesis' had done of note was to save her daughter's life and she hadn't even bothered to say 'thank you'.

"I…suppose that she hasn't really had the chance to have her happy ending…yet…"

Henry frowned as he inspected her torn expression, he could tell that she wasn't sure whether she wanted the Evil Queen to have her happy ending, but at the same time, a lot had happened since they were in the Enchanted Forest.

"So you wouldn't be against her being happy?" he asked, knowing that it wasn't quite the same as asking if she would be okay with the Evil Queen being with her daughter, but at least he was laying the ground work.

"I…no…" the princess replied, "after all this time, it would be nice to finally be able to end our feud…"

"Hasn't it already ended?" the boy said with a thoughtful tilt of his head.

Charming raised his eyebrows and Snow replied, "not formally, but I don't think either of us have held any grudges for a long time…"

Henry smiled happily and leaned forward to pluck up a piece of lettuce to place in his mouth, "maybe you should tell her that?"

The other brunette bit her lip and shot a look over to her husband, who still didn't seem to know exactly what was going on.

"What prompted this, Henry?"

The boy shrugged and replied, "I was just thinking that it's not fair that Mayor Mills always has to be alone when she's so nice…"

The princess nodded slowly and said, "she has changed significantly…"

"So you'll talk to her?" he asked hopefully, sitting up straighter in his chair.

Snow looked at his expression for a moment, before she nodded and watched as a huge smile spread across her grandson's face, and she couldn't help mirroring it.

When he looked down at her plate, the smile fell as she realised that she should probably start planning what she should say to the former Evil Queen.

 **Reviews would be much appreciated XD**


	12. Chapter 12

**A.N T/W for homophobia (kind of haha)**

 **My last assignment is nearly done XD just a few more hours and then I'm free for like five months haha (other than work of course :( lol)**

Chapter twelve

"I still don't understand how you can eat so much," Elsa chuckled.

Emma looked over her shoulder and smirked as they walked down the street, she slipped her hand into the blonde's. Since she had been woken up, she had been trying to show Elsa just how much she cared about her, she couldn't help but feel like her girlfriend was growing suspicious and she kept telling herself that there was nothing to be jealous about. After all, all of the time she had spent with Regina had been purely so they could try and find a way for the brunette to leave town. Therefore, there was no reason that Elsa should feel like she was in any way betraying her, Regina would be gone soon and all of her doubts would be gone with her, soon everybody would be happy.

Pulling the woman closer while they made their way, "I didn't have that much pizza…"

Elsa just shook her head, allowing herself to smile, "you had at least four slices and you still want ice cream."

"We both love pizza and we both love ice cream; I'm just trying to make our night together nice."

The other blonde smiled somewhat tightly and allowed herself to be pulled even tighter. Lately, everything between them just seemed strained and she had no idea why. Her first thought had of course been that the saviour had been spending more time with the mayor, but she told herself that she was just being paranoid. Regina was certainly beautiful, and from the pictures she had seen of Emma's exes, she was most definitely her type. But that didn't automatically mean that there was anything going on. The sheriff was allowed to be attracted to other people without it meaning that she was cheating. Plus, she was pretty sure that if Regina had something going on with Emma, then she wouldn't look nearly as sad as she did every time she had seen her.

"Well…you've certainly succeeded, though you don't have to put too much effort in, all you have to do is be there," Elsa replied with a smile.

The other blonde returned the smile again, but she felt a slight clench in her stomach at the implications. Did Elsa think there was a reason that she wouldn't be there?

Emma shook this off as they came up to the ice-cream store and she extracted her hand from her girlfriend's so she could walk forward to hold the door open for her.

The bell over the door rang out to announce their entrance and the blonde behind the counter looked up, instantly smiling when she recognised who was there.

"Emma," Ingrid breathed, allowing herself to take in just how much she had changed, it wasn't as though she'd had the chance last time she had come into her shop.

The sheriff furrowed her brow and looked over to Elsa to see if she knew this woman, but she seemed just as confused as she felt.

"Er…"

Ingrid realised her mistake and silently berated herself before she smiled as reassuringly as she could, "I don't think there is a single person in town who doesn't know the name of the one who broke the curse, though not everyone has had the chance to meet and thank you."

Emma blew out a breath, deciding that was a good enough excuse, but she still blushed. She wasn't sure if a stranger had ever actually thanked her and with the embarrassment she felt, she was rather thankful for that fact.

"Oh, err…it was no problem…" she replied awkwardly.

The three of them fell into silence, but Ingrid soon interrupted it as she said, "so can I get you something?"

Emma nodded and walked across so she could get a better look at what was in stock, turning to Elsa, she said, "mint chocolate chip?"

The other blonde nodded eagerly and said, "you know me so well."

"Of course I do, babe," the sheriff chuckled, "can we get two cones of mint chocolate chip, two scoops each?"

Ingrid nodded slowly, though she didn't look as though she was really listening as Emma slipped her hand back into Elsa's. She stared at their joined hands and she felt anger bubble in her stomach.

"Babe?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Excuse me?" Emma asked, her eyebrows shot up.

"You called her babe," the older woman replied as if the other blonde had forgotten.

"She called me that because I'm her girlfriend," Elsa supplied once she had noticed that Emma was far too shocked to say anything, "not that has any bearing on you serving us ice-cream."

Ingrid huffed and she gripped the counter tightly, "this can't be," she whispered.

Emma clenched her fist, it had been a while since she had experienced homophobia, but the implications of the stranger's words still brought back all of the anger she had felt when she had gone through it in the past.

"What?" she growled, hoping that it wasn't what she thought it was.

"The two of you can't be together…it's sick and wrong! This isn't how it was supposed to be!" she exploded.

Emma opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Elsa tugged on her hand to get her attention. She shook her head and said, "we can just have ice-cream at Granny's."

The other blonde was about to refuse, but a moment later she realised that as the sheriff, she couldn't exactly verbally abuse someone, no matter how much they had pissed her off. She could, however, come back later and arrest her for discrimination, but having to go into work would ruin her night with Elsa.

It was for that reason that the saviour just nodded and leaned forward to capture Elsa's lips to make a statement, before she pulled back and allowed her eyes to roam over the ice cream lady. She had the urge to punch the woman, but her magic seemed to decide on something that wouldn't ruin her reputation.

The temperature in the room raised far quicker than could be considered natural and Emma couldn't help smirking as the woman's supply melted before her very eyes.

"We probably should go to Granny's, she had actual frozen ice cream," the saviour said with narrowed eyes before she pulled her girlfriend towards the door.

The bell rang out as the door slammed and Ingrid stared disbelieving at the space they had just been standing in.

"We're supposed to be sisters," the blonde muttered as the air suddenly became colder.

* * *

Snow clutched the files close to her chest and took a steadying breath.

As she waited outside of the mayor's office, she considered the last time she had actually had a real conversation with Regina. For a moment she thought that it was when she had tried to convince her that she could be redeemed while she held her in her dungeon. But no, that couldn't be right. It was the Evil Queen who had refused to take her advice. From what she had seen, Regina Mills was just as different to her Enchanted Forest version as anyone else was to their counterpart in town. She knew for a fact that Mary Margaret Blanchard was clearly a different person to Snow White, for one, she was sure that Snow would have been too stubborn to try and talk to Regina now.

"You can go in now," the secretary said softly.

The brunette smiled at the woman behind the desk and tentatively opened the door.

Regina looked up from her laptop and resisted the urge to frown at her former step-daughter, her appointment had been with another teacher, who had apparently gone off sick. Frankly, she would have been perfectly fine with cancelling the meeting all together, but Mary Margaret had insisted that she would be able to bring the files over and explain the proposals.

"Hello, Regina," Snow said awkwardly as she walked over to take a seat in front of the desk on which she placed the files.

"Hello," the older brunette replied in just as awkward a tone.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, before the former queen cleared her throat and looked at the teacher expectantly.

"Oh…er…" Snow stuttered as she reached forward to open the folder that she hadn't actually read. The woman hadn't actually thought that far ahead and she desperately tried to get a gist of what it said at a glance, but was completely unsuccessfully.

Regina inspected her for a moment, before she just rolled her eyes and held out her hand, "couriers aren't usually paid as much as teachers."

Snow handed the folder over and said, "I didn't have much time to prepare…"

Regina just rolled her eyes again at the younger woman and she replied, "then I suppose this meeting is completely pointless."

The princess huffed and tried to remind herself of what Henry had said. Just because the woman made a point of being insufferable around her, that didn't mean that she was automatically evil, especially when she compared her to the way she had acted in the Enchanted Forest. The Evil Queen had been a woman hell bent on revenge, but this was a resigned woman who was trying to cling onto a facade. Snow felt a slight twist in her gut as she considered that it was because she had nothing else in her life right now and her snark was just some kind of coping mechanism.

"Actually...it's not completely pointless...Henry asked me to speak with you."

Regina opened her mouth to reply, but she found that there was no comment she could make to that, though she had no doubt that she wouldn't be berated if this had come from Henry, she couldn't help but think about the last time Snow had sought her out so they could talk. Granted, last time had been far less civilised than it was now and it wasn't if Snow had the ability to make her life any more depressing than it already was, so she just nodded for the younger woman to continue.

The other brunette bit her lip when she realised that she didn't exactly know what it was she wanted to say to the older woman. Once again, she hadn't really thought that far ahead. Thinking back to what her grandson had said, she decided to just go for it and do exactly what the boy had asked her to do.

"Henry asked me to...to tell you that..." the younger faltered and at Regina's exasperated expression, she tried again, "he asked me to tell you that there's no reason to continue with our...feud..."

The mayor stared blankly at the teacher as she absorbed this.

She knew that if the woman had done this before everything had happened with Emma, then she probably would have exploded with all of the reasons that she would never be able to stop hating her. Now, however, when she looked at the brunette, she no longer saw the child who had taken away her chance at happiness with Daniel. Under this new curse, she also wasn't the woman who had had a part in ending her relationship with Emma.

The older woman took a deep steadying breath, trying to get rid of the thoughts of what her life would be like if the princess had done this much sooner, then she just simply nodded.

Snow's eyebrows shot up, she had honestly expected to be berated, which was part of the reason that she had actually been too anxious to actually prepare for this meeting. However, as she thought over her words, she had to wonder whether this would actually change anything between them. It wasn't as though she could remember them actually interacting with each other since the curse broke and she certainly couldn't see the pair of them ever becoming friends.

The younger brunette cringed when it hit her exactly why she had done this. It wasn't just because Henry had asked her to, though that had been what had prompted it, but it was because it would make her feel better.

Regina watched the woman with a quirked eyebrow for a moment, before she stood from her seat, walking across the room to pick up one of the many folders on the shelf.

"If that will be all, Snow, I'm a very busy woman."

The other brunette looked at the former queen's back for a second before she also rose from her chair and replied, "I should probably get going too, I have a class soon."

The pair stood in an awkward silence for a few moments, before the younger of the pair muttered 'goodbye' as she scampered towards the door.

Once the door clicked closed, the former Evil Queen deflated and put the random folder back.

Walking back over to her desk, she dropped into her seat and leaned her head on one of her hands and a full five minutes passed before she decided to actually try and focus on the work Snow had brought her.

However, before she could even attempt to open the folder, she heard a shout from outside her office that was unquestionably her secretary:

"Hang on! You can't just go in there."

The woman's cries of protest clearly went unheard as the door to her office swung open to reveal a very much pissed off blonde woman.

For a brief second, Regina considered whether she had ever seen this woman before, but she was sure that the distinctive flowing dress would have been rather difficult to miss.

"You ruined everything!" The Snow Queen shouted.

Before the mayor even had a chance to ask what the hell she meant, the blonde thrust her hands forward and the brunette felt a sharp blast of ice cold air. The force threw her back and she felt her head hit the wall behind her hard. A sharp pain interrupted her instinct to summon a fireball, and before she could give the instinct more thought, she felt herself go limp and she was already unconscious before she hit the floor.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

 _"Regina…I'm fine…" the blonde argued as she was dragged across the threshold of the mayoral mansion, though as the door shut behind her, she broke out into a coughing fit._

 _The saviour's girlfriend looked over her shoulder at the pale woman. They had planned to have lunch at the station, but instead, the mayor had discovered the blonde fighting off the need to sleep surrounded by a pile of tissues. She had texted Ruby, asking her to come and cover the phone, and had then proceeded to trick the sheriff into thinking they were actually going to Granny's because she had forgotten to bring the lunch that was actually in her bag. It hadn't taken long for Emma to realise that they were actually driving towards her home. Since then, she had been protesting Regina's claim that she needed to get some sleep, which she probably wouldn't get if she were to go back to her apartment, where her mother would undoubtedly be fussing over her for hours._

 _"Someone who is 'fine' doesn't tend to sound like they're about to hack up their lungs in my foyer."_

 _"I wouldn't be in your foyer if you hadn't dragged me here," the blonde shot back, quickly pulling her hand out of the older woman's so that she could place both over her mouth in an attempt to cover a sneeze. However, about four sneezes later, her eyes began to droop and she swayed on her feet._

 _Regina rolled her eyes and walked around the other woman so that she could steady her by putting her hands on her shoulders._

 _"Most people wouldn't argue with their boss giving them time off work, Emma," she said as soothingly as possible, wishing for a moment that her girlfriend didn't have to be always so stubborn._

 _The blonde opened her mouth to say that she didn't need time off work because she was perfectly fine, but a wave of nausea hit her and she clamped her mouth shut, willing it to pass. Once it did, she said, "I guess taking the day off can't hurt…your bed is really comfortable, plus it would be nice to find out what it feels like to actually sleep on it…"_

 _Regina nodded with a small laugh and slowly began leading the taller woman up the stairs._

 _Twenty minutes later, Emma found herself cuddled into Regina's bed, with a box of tissues and a box of tissues next to her and the former queen standing next to her holding out two pills. A moment later, the blonde had swallowed both of them with a small smile at how caring the woman was. She couldn't help but feel as though if this was how the brunette took care of someone she cared about, then Henry really had no reason to ever think she could have been the Evil Queen._

 _Allowing her head to fall back against the pillow, she said, "I guess you have to go back to work…"_

 _Regina quirked an eyebrow and smirked at the not-so-subtle tone that her girlfriend had employed, "you do understand that I am my own boss, I am allowed to work from home."_

 _"Can 'work from home' mean watching TV with your adorably sick girlfriend?"_

 _"I thought you were 'fine'," the brunette smirked._

 _"That was because I didn't want to be an inconvenience, but I'm liking this side of you."_

 _"What side of me?" she asked, subconsciously leaning forward to move a stray hair behind the blonde's ear._

 _"The cuddly, caring side."_

 _Regina opened her mouth, intent on denying the woman's claim, but she just shook her head and said, "I had a feeling that you would only moan if you weren't forced to take your medicine…"_

 _The blonde rolled her eyes and instead just pouted, "please watch TV with me? I'm really cold and I could use some body heat."_

 _The brunette sighed in faux exasperation, before she walked around the bed, kicking off her heels, she pulled up the blanket and slid in next to the blonde who was smiling triumphantly._

 _Emma grabbed the remote and within a moment, she had Netflix on and was scrolling through the options. Biting her lip, she looked over to her girlfriend wondering whether she would be judging her for what she felt like watching. Regina's eyebrows shot up when she finally saw what the blonde had chosen and she turned to look at her in surprise, "Vampire Dairies? Really?"_

 _The saviour shrugged and said, "I got bored on a night and decided to give it a shot…I'm already on season four…"_

 _Regina looked at her sceptically and asked, "and how many seasons are there?"_

 _"…Eight…" she replied apprehensively._

 _"Well…I suppose you are sick, so you should get to choose…" the former queen said, desperately trying to stave off the 'teenage girl' comments._

 _About forty minutes later, Emma was cuddled up to Regina's side with her head on her shoulder as the credits showed across the screen. Biting her lip, she looked up to the brunette and tried to gauge her reaction._

 _For a few moments, she remained silent, before she picked up the remote and started pressing buttons until she got to the pilot._

 _"There is no need for a comment, Miss Swan," she said stoically as the episode started._

 _Emma just laughed and lay her head back onto the older woman's shoulder, "I wouldn't dream of it, your majesty."_

 _"Regina," someone whispered softly, "Regina, please wake up."_

Said woman felt a strong pounding in her head as the happy memory dissolved to allow her consciousness to take over. Groaning, she tried to remember what had just happened and for a second, she thought maybe she had just fallen asleep while watching TV.

It was for this reason, when she opened her eyes and saw Emma's hovering over her. She didn't instantly recognise the worried look on her face, nor the fact that the blonde no longer looked sick. All she could do was smile at the woman. That was until, she allowed her eyes to move slightly to the left and she noticed the presence of a certain other blonde who hadn't existed in her dream world.

With a sigh, everything came crashing back on her.

The blonde next to her was not her girlfriend simply trying to wake her up after many hours of TV, she was the sheriff only here to discover who had attacked the mayor.

"Hello, Miss Swan," she said in as casual tone as possible, though it came out very croaky, which caused the woman to hand her the cup of water next to her.

Emma watched closely as the mayor sat up and accepted the cup to quench her thirst. Looking over her shoulder, she reminded herself that Elsa was there. After a few months of boredom, Emma had asked the woman if she wanted to work part-time at the sheriff's station and she felt guilty for even considering trying to send her away right now. She had just come in to give her the screen captures from the security footage she had asked for, because she didn't want her fellow blonde to see how worried she must have looked while she waited for the brunette to wake up.

"Do you remember anything that happened?" the sheriff asked after a few moments.

Regina placed the cup back onto the side and replied, "I remember a random woman coming into my office and shooting a blast at me. Not much else afterwards…"

"Your secretary called the sheriff's department and I…poofed over…" Emma explained, trying not dwell on the fact that the idea of Regina being in danger had caused her first successful teleportation without much thought. "When she saw me, she disappeared and I called the ambulance because you were unconscious. Do you have any idea why she thinks that 'you ruined everything'?"

The brunette brought her hand up to her forehead, willing the pain to go away as she took all of this, before she just shook her head and said, "I have no idea who that woman was. I have never once seen her in my life."

"Shouldn't you know everyone in town?" Elsa piped up from behind Emma.

Regina narrowed her eyes at the princess and supressed how much she wanted to throw a fireball at her, she had been successful since she had first seen her and Emma together, but her ruining her moment of bliss almost ended her ability to resist.

"There are many people in this town, I hardly made it my business to become familiar with each and every one of them," the brunette retorted with a small huff of frustration.

"I mean…you did cast the curse…maybe she just snapped and decided that you deserved to be punished?" Elsa asked, somewhat meekly.

"Elsa," Emma said warningly.

"It could be true and you know it!" the blonde shot back, her voice rising in confidence.

For a moment, Regina watched the exchange and briefly wondered whether the pair had argued during the course of their relationship. Though she knew that it probably would be kind of comforting for her to know that they were not living in complete paradise, she decided that she didn't really want to watch them argue.

It was for this reason that she held up her hand and said, "you cannot say that it is not a distinct possibility, sheriff Swan."

Emma bit her lip and turned back around to face the mayor in the bed, at the same time, Elsa crossed the room and showed her the picture in her hand.

"She's the woman from the ice-cream store," the sheriff explained.

"Do I look like I go to the ice-cream store, Miss Swan?" Regina asked bluntly, which made the blonde's cheeks burn scarlet when she realised that she sub-consciously allowed her eyes to roam over the older woman's body.

Elsa cleared her throat rather loudly and Emma said, "I guess not. She said you ruined everything though, so we think she might have been planning something…have you done anything…you know…magical lately that could have affected her?"

The brunette felt her throat constrict when it all seemed to click in her mind. She may have no idea who this woman was, or what she could possibly be planning, but her newest curse had obviously influenced the lives of the people involved. Elsa might seem completely fine with the fact that she had no memories, but there were probably people she had left behind who had been searching for her, or worse, thought she was dead. She silently berated herself for not thinking things through, but the fact was, she had been far too focused on being so utterly heart-broken to consider that there could be any negative implications for anyone else. She had assumed that by taking herself out of the equation, everything would be easier for everyone else. But now she had a feeling that something was going to happen to ruin her simple plan.

"I haven't performed magic recently," Regina replied, hoping that seven months was long enough ago that it wouldn't trigger her ex's stupid 'superpower'.

Emma knit her eyebrows together, she knew that she was telling the truth, but there was something behind it. She could sense some of guilt, but that wasn't part of her superpower. Shaking her head, she told herself that she didn't know the mayor well enough to know that she was hiding something. After all, she was pretty sure that they had only spoken a few times.

Opening her mouth to ask another question, she was cut short by the sound of a knock at the door.

All three women turned at the same time to see Doctor Whale, and the brunette in the bed could hardly hold back an eye roll at the sight of him.

The doctor chose to ignore just how much she obviously hated him and proceeded to walk further into the room, "you should have had a nurse page me when she woke up," he grumbled while he pulled his pointer light out of his lab coat.

"She has a name," Emma said through gritted teeth, though she didn't know exactly the reason that she didn't like the man. It wasn't like she could remember how much she had wanted to tear his head off when he had led a mob towards Regina's home after the curse had broken.

Whale just rolled his eyes and turned to look at Regina, "how are you feeling, madam mayor?" he asked as nicely as he possibly could, as he brought the light up and proceeded to check her pupils.

"I feel fine," she replied.

"You're lying," the sheriff said instantly.

The mayor let out a frustrated sigh and corrected herself, "I have a pounding headache and I feel slightly dizzy."

Whale nodded, as he finished his brief exam and replied, "it doesn't look like you have a concussion. I'll give you some pills for the pain and keep you for another twelve hours just to be safe. If all goes well, you should be able to leave straight after. Though I would suggest a couple of days' rest from work."

Regina looked over to Emma, who seemed to have relaxed marginally at the news.

For a brief second, she allowed herself to imagine that she would be able to spend the next two days finally continuing Vampire Dairies. With all of her spare time, she had of course tried to watch it, but somehow, it just wasn't enjoyable without Emma next to her telling her what was about to happen.

Swallowing hard, she nodded and said, "thank you, Whale."

He just gave a small nod in return and turned to go and get the pills he had mentioned.

Regina, Elsa and Emma all fell into a very much awkward silence, before the oldest of the three said, "unless you have any more questions, I would rather like to rest."

"Er…" Emma began unsurely, trying to figure out why she felt like she should be staying. Finally though, she came to the conclusion that there was no rational reason that she should be staying, especially with her girlfriend looking at her expectantly and she just nodded. "Can I call you if I have any more questions?"

"Of course."

The blonde offered her a quick smile and said, "I hope you feel better soon…"

With that, she awkwardly turned on her heels and made her way to the door. Elsa stared at Regina for another moment, before she also turned and made a point of slipping her hand into Emma's before they left the room.

Regina watched them go, and huffed at the blonde's action. A split second later, Whale came back in and raised his eyebrows at the mayor's expression.

"Are you oka…"

"Just give me the pills, Victor."

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, reviews would be much appreciated XD**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

Henry hesitated outside of the door and considered for a moment what he was doing.

Emma had returned home briefly and had told him what had happened in the mayor's office and that he wouldn't have to go into his internship for the next couple of days. The moment she had mentioned that Regina was in the hospital, he had felt his stomach drop at the thought that it could be truly serious. From what he understood about curses, if the caster died, then that would mean that it would break and everyone in town would get their memories back. He knew that there was a lot that Emma would forgive him for, but he was pretty sure that if she got her memories back only to discover that the love of her life was dead, then she probably wouldn't even be able to look at him again, let alone stay in Storybrooke for the rest of her life. That was, of course, assuming that the ice-wall ever came down. There was a good chance that he would have to spend the rest of his life knowing that he had made the woman who had raised him so miserable that she felt he would be happier never having memories of her and with his birth mother effectively hating him.

Swallowing hard, he tried to make the thoughts from earlier go away and instead focused on the task at hand.

Timidly, he brought his hand up and knocked lightly on the door. A moment later, he heard a faint 'come in' and he slid it across so that he could enter the room.

The moment he did, the brunette in the hospital bed allowed her eyebrows to shoot up at the sight of the pre-teen clutching a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a card in the other. Placing her book down in front of her, she smiled slightly at him, seeing that he was nervous, though to be honest, she was more than a little surprised herself. Never in a million years had she expected that Henry would be visiting her and especially not with gifts.

"Hello, Henry," she said as evenly as possible, desperately trying to not allow the tears to track down her cheeks so that Henry would be able to see how much this meant to her. As far as she was concerned, the boy had no idea that she was ever his mother, which meant he was just a caring boy bringing flowers to his boss who had been hurt.

Of course, the younger brunette now instantly recognised her reaction for what it was. Before Archie telling him the truth, he knew that he probably wouldn't have noticed the emotion on her face, and certainly, he wouldn't have known what it meant if he had. Now he could see a woman so utterly surprised that the son she had given up on ever loving her had cared enough to even come and see her, he just wished that he could tell her that he knew everything, but the fact was that he didn't. Without all of his memories, he had yet to fully grasp the fact that the brunette had been the woman who had devoted ten years of her life to being his mother. There was still a part of his mind that kept telling him that she was just the mayor whom he had only met a couple weeks ago, which meant that no matter how much he knew simply telling her would make her happy, his mind just wouldn't allow him to do so just encase it was all wrong. Archie had no evidence to support his claims, and with only a slightly weak gut feeling that the therapist was telling the truth, the boy resolved to give himself more time before he even thought about simply coming clean.

"My mom told me what happened in your office and I just thought I would come and say that I hope you're okay in person…and give you these…" he rambled, thrusting the items in his hand forward at the end of his sentence.

Regina looked surprised for one more moment, before she reached forward and accepted the offered gifts with a grateful smile. Placing the flowers on the table next to her, she picked up the card and opened it to find a picture of a panda on it. Swallowing hard, she had to bite her lip to try and stave off the onslaught of tears. For some reason she had never questioned why Henry had always chosen to make her mother's day cards with a panda on it. She was sure that it was because he just enjoyed drawing them, but even when he got older and capable of drawing something more complicated, the tradition continued. That was until last year when he seemed to have 'forgotten' mother's day, instead he had spent the whole day in his room and now that she thought about it, he had probably been reading that infernal story book that had been the beginning of their failing mother-son relationship.

"Thank you," she managed to say without opening the floodgates, "this was very…considerate of you, Henry."

"Well, you said that you don't have many friends and I thought that everyone should have at least one person to visit them in the hospital…you know…"

Regina nodded and smiled at him, "that's very nice of you, it truly means a lot.

The brunette boy smiled, allowing all of his anxiety over his decision to go away, and he was just about to turn on his heels before he spotted a TV in the corner of the room.

"Mom said that you would be here for like twelve hours…if you wanted, I could keep you company…only if you want though…"

The older brunette ran through all of the reasons that this would be inappropriate in her mind. On paper, she was simply his boss and it would be weird for the town mayor to form a friendship with a boy whose mother she wasn't even really friends with.

But damn it, she had just been thrown against a wall by a psychotic sorceress, and she knew that spending just a small amount of time with a Henry who wanted her around would make her feel way better than any pill that Whale could possibly give her.

Regina handed him the remote and he fell into the chair next to her as he inspected the controls. A moment later he almost sub-consciously turned to his favourite show.

Regina smiled fondly at the title screen of 'Young Justice' and decided that she could allow herself to simply enjoy one episode before she brought herself to forget everything for just twenty minutes.

* * *

-Two months ago-

 _"Alright Ingrid, it looks like the last fracture is all healed," the doctor explained happily, "you just need to sign here and you'll be free to leave."_

 _The blonde woman let out a sigh of relief. She couldn't believe that she had allowed her brief trip out of Storybrooke to turn into a five-month hospital stay. Things had just been so boring waiting for Elsa to show up that she saw no reason that she couldn't go and spend the day in New York; however, one drunken driver later and she had woken up in a hospital bed, being told that she wouldn't be able to leave for some time. Every moment she had spent there had been torture as she wondered whether she had missed her chance to put her plan into action, but she kept telling herself that it would never be too late. She would be able to cast the spell of Shattered Sight and get the family that she had always dreamed of having since her own had fallen apart._

 _With a deep breath, she smiled at the doctor and thanked him for all he did for her as she signed her name onto the discharge papers._

 _All she would have to do now was go back to Storybrooke and everything was in. The last she had seen, Emma was quite happy with the mayor as her girlfriend, so she figured that she would have to find a way to get the former Evil Queen on board since she would never want her new sister to be without the person she loved. But everything else would be simple, she would just have to get back to Storybrooke._

 _That was what she had told herself for the whole four-hour drive back. However, the time hardly registered in her mind and before she knew it, she was pulling up the familiar road._

 _Smiling, she pulled the scroll out of her bag and looked up, expecting to see the sprayed town line with the 'Welcome to Storybrooke.' Instead, a wall of ice towered over her once the shock had fallen away, she allowed herself to smile at the sight. It could only mean that her niece had finally arrived and she would be able to start her plan._

 _Grabbing her bag, she walked towards the ice and sighed in relief when she saw that it didn't quite touch the town line. This allowed her to step over it and feel the rush of magic she had been missing for all of those months._

 _Raising her hand, a cloud of smoke engulfed her and she decided that her car was a small price to pay for admission back into Storybrooke._

 _-Present day-_

 _"In order for the whole town to believe that Henry has always been your son and that we never had any form of relationship, I must give up you and Henry. The price of the curse will be watching you both be happy without me, but it will be worth it…"_

Ingrid looked angrily on at the images she had conjured in her mirror.

Admittedly, she had been rather rash in attacking the mayor, since she had been convinced that their break-up had led to the relationship that should have never happened. But now she saw that it was much deeper than that. Regina's curse had been directly responsible for what had happened.

Emma and Elsa were never meant to be together and while they remembered their relationship, there was no way they could ever be a family. Swallowing hard, the Snow Queen considered that she should abandon her plan, considering this new development, but she had spent so much time on it that she resolved to just go through with it and ignore the implications.

But that started with figuring out exactly what she could do to break this curse.

* * *

-The next day-

Emma shot a look at the silent blonde across from her and managed to stop herself from sighing audibly. Things had been more than a little awkward since the day before and she was pretty sure that she knew the reason behind it.

"Do you want another coffee?" the saviour offered, hoping that it would end the oppressive silence.

Her plan failed, though, as Elsa just shook her head and continued to look at her breakfast that she had yet to actually take a bite of.

"Elsa," Emma said, actually sighing this time, "can you please talk to me?"

"There's nothing to talk about, I'm just being irrational," the other woman whispered.

The sheriff tilted her head in confusion, that certainly wasn't what she had expected after a day of cold shoulder.

She was about to just accept this and try and veer the conversation towards that conclusion; however, when she thought back to the hospital room and the princess's face when she had basically reprimanded her, she swallowed hard and decided to bite the bullet.

"Is it about Regina?" Emma asked, instantly seeing Elsa clenching her jaw.

"I have no reason to be jealous of you and the mayor, I've just noticed that you were so worried about her, but that's your job…granted, it isn't really in your Job Description that you had to miraculously learn how to teleport yourself across town…but you know…"

Emma bit her lip and her mind didn't even bother trying to repeat her mantra. The fact was that spending time with Regina had given her the first doubts that she had ever had about Elsa since they had met. Neither of them knew anything about her background. For all they knew, she could be somehow involved in some kind of plot with the new snow manipulator and she wouldn't even remember. Or she could be married with a family who had spent the last six months missing her dearly. The saviour was no stranger to being alone for long periods of time, but the more she thought about it, the more she sincerely hoped that her girlfriend had someone who was missing her and maybe even looking for her. At least that would mean that her past would be worth remembering, instead of spending the rest of her life in Storybrooke, pretending that she had always belonged there simply because she had never questioned her missing memories.

Elsa watched the plethora of emotions flash across her girlfriend's face and continued to look at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell her exactly what she wanted to hear.

However, the hesitation was enough for her eyes to widen, before she huffed and rose from the booth.

"Elsa," Emma said frantically, as she jumped out of her own seat and threw some money onto the table, before running out of the diner to follow her very pissed off girlfriend.

"I didn't say anything!" she shouted as the bell rung out behind her.

The other blonde turned around in the middle of the street and said, "you didn't have to say anything."

"Me and Regina are acquaintances, if that," Emma shot back, trying to close the distance between them, though it did nothing to remedy the people staring and whispering. "I'm just trying to help her because she helped Henry by giving him the apprenticeship and helping him with his science project. Plus, you looked so worried in the hospital."

"There are ways to thank someone that do not involve spending hours with them! You could have brought her a bottle of wine or something, but no, you decide to spend the day walking around the ice wall with her!"

"I help everyone, I'm the saviour or whatever," Emma sighed, crossing her arms defensively. "Plus, you don't have to be having an affair with someone to care when they're in the hospital, Elsa. She was attacked and it's my job to find out by who. You're the one who didn't need to be there!"

Elsa's mouth fell open and the other blonde clamped her mouth shut, "I didn't mean…"

"Just leave me alone, Emma."

With that, Elsa turned on her heels and was about to walk away, but her steps faltered at the sound of a high pitched excited squeal.

"Elsa!" a red-headed girl shouted gleefully as she ran towards the blonde, failing to see her very confused expression in her excitement.

The blond man behind her, however, had a better view of the situation and he tried in vain to lean forward and grab the woman. But before his fingers even came near her, she collided with the blonde and said, "I finally found you, it's been so long."

Emma blinked a couple of times, before the reality of the situation came crashing down on her. All of her theories had been true, but she imagined that it would have been far less painful for whoever this girl was if they had found out via Elsa getting her memories back.

The pain that the saviour anticipated flashed across her face as the princess pushed her back, giving her a look crossed between the seething anger she had just felt and the pure shock of being hugged by a stranger.

"Who are you?" the blonde asked.

The red-head's shoulders dropped and her face became pinched with pain and confusion as she looked over her shoulder to see if her fiancé knew about some kind of joke that she didn't. But when she saw that he looked the same way she felt, she turned back to the blonde and said with a small nervous laugh, "Elsa…it's me…Anna…your sister."

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed and as always I need to thank my beta, QueenApples XD**

 **Reviews are appreciated greatly XD**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

 _"Are you sure about this?" Kristoff breathed, trying to stop his teeth from clattering at the sheer coldness of the atmosphere._

 _"Can you think of another way to find Elsa?" Anna snapped back, climbing over a particularly large pile of snow as they continued to search the cave._

 _The blond man bit his lip, trying to tell himself that nothing good could come from suggesting that perhaps six months of searching was just too long. He had missed the blonde as much as anyone, but he had a certain perspective that told him that there was a good chance that the woman would never be returning to Arendelle, not that he wanted to consider what could have happened. He could see why Anna refused to acknowledge the possibility, but he could also see that her postponing their wedding to the next month each month. If it ever came to actually cancelling the event because she came to terms with what could very well be true, then he wasn't sure that she would be able to handle it._

 _"She has been gone for a long time…"_

 _"And we've finally found where she was going before she…disappeared. There has to be something here that can tell where she's gone, which means that we can find a way to get her back…" the red-head replied distractedly as she continued her search._

 _Kristoff gritted his teeth and decided to just go with it. He didn't want to be the one to dash her hopes, but he couldn't halt the feeling that slowly giving up on ever finding Elsa would only be worse for his fiancé, especially since it generally takes her a very long time to actually lose hope._

 _Sighing to himself, he proceeded to look through the cavern. There was a chance that they could find a clue as to where she was, but he just hoped that it wouldn't lead them to discover some kind of grisly death that would scar Anna for life._

 _As he made to walk over to a pile of random objects, he frowned when he felt his foot kick something underneath the snow. With a quick look over his shoulder, he saw that his fiancé was preoccupied, so he reached down, feeling his hand close around very cold canvas. Lifting it up, he immediately recognised it as a travelling satchel, which certainly didn't seem to belong in this cavern packed with ancient looking caverns. With his hand slightly trembling, he pulled the it open to find a canteen of water, along with wrapped pieces of food that appeared to have been frozen a very long time ago. Finally, he saw a small wrapped box and he felt his stomach twist in hope as he reached in a pulled it out._

 _Letting out a ragged breath, he turned the label over and swallowed hard as his eyes ran across the inscription 'happy birthday Anna, love from Elsa'._

 _"Anna…" he called, turning on his heel with the box in one hand and the bag in the other._

 _The red-head looked curiously over to him, but when she saw that he was holding something so completely out of place, she quickly stumbled over to him, dropping the urn she had been inspecting._

 _Slowly, she eyed the contents of the satchel, before she decided that there was nothing of interest in there and then she took the offered box._

 _"She must have gone to get my birthday present…" she said guiltily as she turned it over in her hands._

 _"She would have been back within days if that was all she had gone out to do, she must have come here to inspect some kind of disturbance…we both know that she has always wanted to know what happened to Ingrid…"_

 _Anna clenched her jaw at the mention of their aunt who had suddenly disappeared. The woman had shown up and had finally given Elsa hope that maybe her powers were not abnormal. She had offered to teach her to control them, but she had just left after a few weeks, claiming something along the lines like 'this is not enough'. Neither Elsa nor Anna had understood what she had meant, but it had certainly seemed to bother the blonde sister far more than the red-head._

 _"Open it," Kristoff said softly, "she would have wanted you to…"_

 _She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant by that, but she just closed it, deciding that she didn't want to talk about the possibility that her sister was dead._

 _With a small hesitation, she lightly pulled the packaging aside and blinked a few times at the snow flake shaped necklace. It was definitely beautiful, but she had been hoping for something slightly more sentimental and she was sure that it was purely because she had been missing the blonde, she probably would have loved the necklace straight away if it had been her sister who had given it to her._

 _However, when she looked up at her blond companion, she saw a look of shock form across his face and she instantly knew that there was something special that she didn't know about. It certainly couldn't have been something about the piece of jewellery itself considering the fact that she was sure Kristoff knew absolutely nothing about anything to do with accessories._

 _"What is it?" she asked, with a lilt of hope in her voice._

 _Kristoff bit the inside of his cheek and began to sincerely hope that it was what it appeared to be. He had learnt a lot about magical items from the Rock Trolls, but if he was wrong about this one, then the hope he would be giving her would just be misleading and painful._

 _"It looks like a wishing star…it has the ability to grant one wish to whoever it is given to as long as their intentions are pure…I can't believe that she found one," he breathed._

 _Anna picked it up by the chain and brought it up to her face, watching as it spun slowly in awe._

 _"Why wouldn't she have used this for herself?" she breathed._

 _"Because wishing away her powers would have been a selfish wish," the blonde replied, knowing that they both knew why the woman had gone in search of this necklace._

 _The red-head swallowed hard, she hated how alone Elsa's powers had made her feel, no matter how much she had grown from the little girl who had never left her bed chambers, the fact remained that there was not anyone who could truly understand her. Having Ingrid for a few months had made her happy, but losing her had made her feel alone again. Anna could tell that she wanted to lock herself away again, but with all of her responsibility, it wasn't an option. Looking around the cavern, she started to wonder what she had found here that could have made her disappear. She had obviously decided against her original plan to simply wish away her powers, which could have very well been because it didn't work. Something had caused her to come here instead of coming home and she now felt intense guilt that the woman had felt the need to be alone when she did. Maybe if she hadn't, then she wouldn't be missing._

 _"Do you know how it works?" she asked; however, before the man could reply 'no', it began shining brightly, as if in response to Anna's thoughts. "I think I just activated it…" she breathed, "now what?"_

 _The blond shrugged and replied frantically, "I don't know…make a wish!"_

 _"Err…what if I word it wrong, it could be really bad…"_

 _Kristoff just raised his arms and shook his head, "I don't know…just say what you want…"_

 _"I wish for us to be taken to my sister, Elsa," the red-head quickly said, suddenly worrying that the necklace would decide to suddenly stop shining if she waited too long._

 _For five excruciatingly long seconds, nothing happened and Anna felt hope slowly falling away. Maybe it couldn't take them to someone who was already dead? Or maybe her wish had been somehow self in nature? For all she knew, her sister was finally completely happy somewhere and she didn't want to be found._

 _Just before she could throw the necklace on the floor though and allow tears to drip down her cheeks, smoke bellowed around them._

 _When they each opened their eyes the next moment, they found that they were in somewhere completely unfamiliar. Anna looked around at the strange buildings and the people gawping at the strange pair who had randomly appeared in the middle of their street._

 _Before she could take in just how slightly afraid she was by all of the things she didn't understand, her gaze fell on two blondes down the street who appeared to be arguing. At first she furrowed her brow at their weird clothes and she wondered just how uncomfortable such strange trousers must be._

 _She was about to ponder this further, but the one facing away from her and Kristoff seemed to have had enough of whatever she was saying to her fellow blonde and turned on her heels. Anna's mouth fell open, and her mouth and feet seemed to catch up before her brain did, as she began to run forward as she shouted, "Elsa!"_

"And then you asked me who I am," Anna finished with a sigh, looking around the strange room curiously. She had heard the other blonde, who she now knew to be named Emma, call it the station. With the cell across the room, she guessed that it had something to do with law enforcement, but she honestly couldn't even hazard a guess as to what the strange machines on the desks were. She was none the wiser when she watched in awe as Elsa had begun typing.

"So…Elsa is the queen of Arendelle?" Emma asked slowly, seeing that her girlfriend didn't seem as though she wanted to engage. To be fair, she could imagine that was a lot to take in after so long without her memories. Especially considering that the blonde didn't seem as though she wanted to question what had brought her to Storybrooke. Emma couldn't help but think that there must have been a reason that the woman had been so comfortable only knowing her name for six months and she only wished that she had questioned this earlier so that she would have been more prepared for this situation.

The red-head nodded enthusiastically and then looked over to the blonde who seemed to still be staring adamantly at the screen, in a small voice, she asked, "do you believe me?"

Elsa finally looked up and instantly felt guilt consume her at the expression from the other woman. A certain need to protect her suddenly became overwhelming and she found herself nodding even though she wasn't one hundred percent sure, "of course we believe you, but it would be easier to come to terms with if I had just one of my memories…"

The younger woman nodded, frowning at the idea that her sister could have spent so long without any inkling as to where she was from and had not even really tried to discover anything about her past.

"What was I doing before I…left?" she asked, hoping that some interest would give the red-head hope, even if she didn't fully believe her, she still felt this pull to make her happy.

"We think that you went to get me a birthday present…and then you must have gone in search of our aunt…" Anna replied, sounding somewhat unsure.

"Our aunt?" Elsa asked with a furrowed brow, finally turning fully away from the computer to look at the other woman.

"She has the same powers as you and offered to train you, but then she just left…"

"The same powers?" Emma asked slowly, raising from her chair.

"Yes, why?" Anna asked, seemingly just remembering that the blonde was there.

Emma crossed to the computer in a few steps and Elsa leaned aside to grant her access to the keyboard. Within a few moments, the sheriff pulled up the security camera footage from the mayor's office, showing the ice-cream seller throwing a blast of ice at Regina.

Elsa watched the clip intently for a moment with her girlfriend, while Anna and Kristoff gawped at the video itself.

"Is that magic?" the blond man asked with wide eyes.

"It's technology," Elsa replied without looking away, "do you think she's my aunt?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "she does kind of look like you and it can't be a coincidence that you have the same powers…"

Anna furrowed her brow and finally managed to focus on what the video was showing, rather than the moving pictures themselves and her mouth fell slightly open, "that is definitely Aunt Ingrid…she looks just as crazy as ever, but why is she attacking that woman?"

"Apparently, she 'ruined everything' do you have any idea what she could be planning?" Emma asked hopefully.

"I don't even know what she was planning in Arendelle," Anna shrugged, "all I knew was that she wanted to get really close with Elsa and that she basically hated me…then she just left and I'm pretty sure that it was because Elsa chose me over her…"

"She does sound pretty crazy," Emma mumbled, looking back at the screen.

Before anyone could offer any more theories, however, the sound of clicking heels tore everyone's attention away from the computer screen and a brunette woman appeared at the entrance.

Anna instantly recognised her as the woman that Ingrid had been attacking in the video, but when she noticed a twitch in her sister's jaw, she figured that there was something more about her. She also noticed that Elsa sub-consciously shifted closer to Emma and for the first time she actually wondered what the nature of their relationship was.

"Regina," Emma perked up happily, "Whale discharged you?"

The brunette's eyes moved across the new faces in the room and she inwardly cringed that her plan had failed. She just wanted to place the science book she had found in her study onto the sheriff's desk while she would still be at breakfast and then leave. Clearly, something must have happened that had caused Emma to leave her food early and from the death glare she was currently receiving from Elsa, she guessed that she may have had something to do with it.

"Yes…earlier this morning…" she replied awkwardly, "I found Henry's science book in my study…"

The saviour nodded slowly, suddenly feeling the tension in the air since the initial happiness of seeing the mayor had passed and she said, "err…thanks…but aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"I don't deal well with nothing to do," Regina replied, crossing the room to place the book onto the edge of the desk, "but you're clearly busy, so I'll leave you to your work."

Before she could turn on her heels, Elsa let out a little huff and called, "Regina wait."

Said woman clenched her own jaw at the inflection of anger in the blonde's voice, but she turned back with her best neutral expression, "yes?"

"Is it possible to track a person if you have access to their relatives?"

Regina pinched her brow in thought for a moment and Emma looked away, berating herself for thinking just how adorable she looked.

"I suppose…the spell would not be as strong, perhaps with more than one relative it could work…"

"How about two?" Anna asked.

The brunette was about to reply, before her mind seemed to finally assess the woman's features and the truth came crashing down on her. The red-head was obviously related to Elsa, which meant that her curse had taken her away from her family for six months. It was because of her that the blonde was unable to care about the memories she had lost, which meant that she didn't get home as she probably should have.

Internally, she took a few calming breaths and tried to remind herself that in the Enchanted Forest, she had done much worse things to people.

"It would certainly be worth a try…" she managed to reply.

"If we found Ingrid, then we could force her to tell us how she got here and then we would be able to figure out how to get home," the red-head said excitedly, basically vibrating in her seat.

Elsa's eyes widened at the thought of leaving Storybrooke and she quickly shot a look over to her girlfriend, who seemed to adamantly looking anywhere but at Regina. Rolling her eyes, she felt the same kind of anger that she had felt at the diner once again rise in the pit of her stomach and she asked, "and how would this spell work?"

"A strand of hair from each person should suffice in theory," Regina replied cautiously.

Without hesitation, Elsa stood from her chair and walked over to Anna. After a quick nod of consent, she pulled a strand of red hair out and then raised her hand to get a strand of her on hair. She then walked over to Regina and handed her both pieces. Part of her knew that she wanted to do this now, since if it worked then it meant that she had solid proof that Anna was her sister. However, there was another part that couldn't admit that she simply wanted to be left alone with the newcomers, even if it meant sending her girlfriend on a task with the object of their strife.

"Now?" the brunette asked in surprise.

Elsa looked over to Emma who looked like she was about to protest, but she just nodded, "wouldn't you rather find the woman who attacked you sooner rather than later?"

"Whale said that she's supposed to be resting," the sheriff piped up.

"But the sooner that this is over, the sooner she can go back to normality."

Regina looked between the two blondes and wondered whether they fully realised that 'she' was in the room and said, "I have no qualms finding this woman today, I feel perfectly fine."

The sheriff looked up and was about to say 'no' before she reminded herself that there was no reason that she would ever be able to tell the former Evil Queen what to do and she just nodded.

"You and Regina can track her," Elsa announced as she walked back over to her seat.

Emma furrowed her brow and began, "but…" before she trailed off, when she realised that there were people in this room that did not need to hear about the subject of their earlier argument.

Anna and Kristoff exchanged a very confused look at the awkward scene. But, finally, Emma rose from her chair and said, "I guess now couldn't hurt, as long as you're sure madam mayor."

"Very," Regina replied, turning on her heel so that no one would be able to see the slight upturn of her lips. No matter how much she had been trying to move past it, she couldn't deny that have the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with her ex-girlfriend was never something she would be willingly passing up.

* * *

"Are you sure that this going to work?" Emma asked as she trudged behind the brunette.

"The spell revealed a location to me, Miss Swan, the difficult part of the spell is over. We simply just have to go there and discover if she is still there."

The blonde nodded to herself, before she said, "this could have waited until you're better, you know?"

Regina looked over her shoulder and tried not to sigh happily at the type of concern that she hadn't had from another person in quite some time. However, she reminded herself that Emma literally could not help but care about every person she met.

"As I have said, sheriff, I am perfectly fine. Whale claiming that I shouldn't go to work was just so that he could give me advice to warrant his pay cheque."

Emma rolled her eyes and replied, "most people would be quite happy to have some time off work."

"Most people do not have a town to run," the brunette shot back.

As they talked, neither of them noticed that they had gradually began to fall into step together until they were finally walking side-by-side.

"You got attacked…"

"And as I've said, I'm fine. Technically, you do not need to be here…you should be with your girlfriend while she reconnects with her sister…" Regina said, trying to keep the strain out of her voice.

"I'm pretty sure that's why she sent me…she probably wants time alone with Anna. I think that she feels bad that she can't remember anything about her," she replied, "I don't think that she actually wanted me there since we argued earlier…"

Emma clamped her mouth shut when she realised that she had felt comfortable enough in the presence of Regina to tell her all of her inner thoughts. But she tried to remind herself that the woman was technically just her boss, which meant that she didn't want to hear her issues. But, she couldn't help but note just how interested the brunette actually looked.

Regina bit the inside of her cheek and she tried to tell herself that she should simply change the subject, but she found that finding out could possibly make her feel a little better to know that there was some trouble in paradise.

"Argument?" she asked as casually as she could and Emma instantly blushed.

"She thinks that I have a crush on someone else…"

"And do you?" the brunette replied, her throat constricting slightly.

The blonde bit her lip, she knew that no one else had her superpower, but she did have this strange feeling that it would be pretty difficult to lie to the mayor.

Swallowing hard, she said, "I guess so…but having a crush doesn't automatically equal cheating…"

"It certainly doesn't," the former queen agreed, "I suppose if you've made it obvious enough for your girlfriend to notice, that would be where the issue originates from."

"Well it's not like I can help it," the sheriff sighed, "this person is beautiful, smart and I like being around them…plus, Henry really likes her…"

"Henry doesn't like Elsa?" Regina asked, her eyebrows shooting up. She had noticed some contempt in the station, but she had just assumed that it was because he had been so uncomfortable with having witnessed his mother making out with her.

The blonde sighed and shook her head, "I think tolerates would be a better word…there just doesn't seem to be anything that I can do to make him completely happy, like there's something missing. Elsa is nice to him and she takes an interest in everything that he does, but he just doesn't seem…responsive…"

Regina nodded and remained silent for a moment.

She'd certainly had the same thought that nothing seemed to ever make the boy happy. She gave him exactly what he had asked for and he still managed to have somehow find some fault. However, the hopeful part of her mind was screaming that it was because he needed the woman who raised him to be happy and by casting her curse, she had robbed him of the chance to come to his own realisation that he needed her. But, the other part of her felt that if she had allowed it to go on, then Henry would have only grown to resent her further the longer that Emma resented him.

"If I am correct, it has just been the two of you for a very long time. Relatively, six months is not a very long time to accept a new person into your family and from what I have seen, your relationship did move unusually quickly…"

"I guess…" Emma mumbled, looking at the ground. That was yet another doubt that she had been feeling lately. She had been living with Elsa from the very start of their relationship and it had barely taken seven months for the first 'I love you' to be said. She was pretty sure that she had never said those three words to easily to anyone. She only wished that she knew why she was suddenly having all of these doubts, surely it couldn't have been because of a simple crush on the mayor.

"He seemed to take to you pretty quickly though…I heard that he brought you flowers in the hospital…"

Regina nodded and replied, "he is a very considerate boy, but that's no reason to believe that he will never like Elsa."

"Well…by the sounds of it, Elsa is going back to Arendelle pretty soon so he might not have the time," the blonde sighed.

The brunette tilted her head and stopped in her tracks, having completely forgotten why they had been walking through the forest at this point. The saviour stopped as well and waited for the other woman's reply, obviously having forgotten their aim too.

"You seem oddly comfortable with the fact that your girlfriend may be leaving forever," Regina frowned, folding her arms over her chest.

Emma shrugged and huffed at the same time, "I really don't know what I feel. I used to think that our relationship was perfect, but recently, everything just seems somehow off. Like, I only just realised that Elsa has a past that she doesn't seem all that bothered about. I'm pretty sure that if I lost my memories, I wouldn't just jump into a relationship with the first woman I meet and then live together for the next six months! I would do anything I can to get back to the people who are missing me. Anna has been missing Elsa for half a freaking year and she looked so heartbroken when she had no idea who she was. She has family and a kingdom to rule, frankly, I think that she should go back to Arendelle so that she can get her life back!"

"And all of this started from a simple crush?" Regina asked.

The blonde swallowed hard and looked over the woman.

Everything about her was so perfect. Her eyes, her hair, her flawless skin. Then there was the mask that she knew that the woman wore all of the time. For some reason, she wanted to find out why she was always trying to hide just how sad she was. If someone had taken something from this woman, she wanted to get it back for her, just so that she could see her smile for once. Taking a deep breath, she realised that she had never quite felt such intense feelings for Elsa.

"I think it's more than just a 'simple crush'," she muttered looking down at the ground, trying to blink away the tears that had started to threaten to fall as soon as the realisation had hit her. "It's hard to explain. With Elsa, I felt like I just knew that we had to be together, but I want to be with this person."

As she spoke, she slowly took a few steps forward, until she was a few inches from invading the other woman's personal space.

"I know that it makes no sense, I just have this feeling that me and Elsa were never meant to be together in that way…"

Regina felt her throat go dry as the blonde took another step forward and she shook her head. "doubts are a perfectly acceptable part of any relationship, but they are no reason to abandon the happiness that you have built."

"But what if there is a way that I can be happier? Why wouldn't I want to take that chance?" Emma asked, almost pleadingly.

"But there is every chance that it could make everything infinitely worse and you will yearn to return to a simpler time," Regina breathed.

"I prefer to be positive, your majesty."

Before the brunette could protest, the sheriff leaned forward and captured the mayor's lips in her own.

For a split second, Regina thought about pushing the sheriff away and telling her just how inappropriate she was. But the familiar feeling of her lips moving passionately against her own. Before she knew it, the blonde ran her tongue across her bottom lip and she didn't even think about it as she opened her mouth and granted her access.

Regina brought her arms around the other woman's waist on instinct and as they continued to kiss, she allowed herself to believe that they were simply in her foyer after yet another date. Henry had been perfectly fine with their relationship and the three of them were finally becoming a family.

However, when oxygen became necessary, she leaned back and the scent of the forest brought her back to reality. They were on a mission to find the lair of Emma's girlfriend's crazy aunt.

"Wow," the blonde breathed, but her grin instantly turned into a frown as Regina dropped her arms and took a step back.

The brunette swallowed hard as it crashed down upon her. The saviour remembered no more about her than she had a moment ago. Their kiss had not broken the curse.

Biting her bottom lip, she willed herself to not cry.

"You may have been right, Miss Swan, I believe that I should be following Doctor Whale's advice," she said in as an evenly as possibly, before a cloud of smoke engulfed her, cutting off the saviour's questioning little squeak.

With a sigh, Emma ran a hand across her face and decided to proceed with what she had been sent to do as she continued to trudge forward through the forest.

However, she didn't notice the blonde hiding behind a nearby tree with a somewhat disappointed look on her face. She had sincerely hoped that would be the end of this infernal curse.

Gritting her teeth, she knew that there was only one other way that she would be able to break it, to put an end to its caster.

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed :) for those asking, SwanQueen isn't too far away now.**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated XD**


	16. Chapter 16

**T/W for mild violence, and I had some formatting issues so I had to improvise with the line breaks lol**

Chapter sixteen

Gold looked up from the ledger he had been scribbling in at the sound of the bell over his door.

At the sound, he had prepared a quip for the brunette he had expected to see, but it fell dead on his tongue when he saw that it was not the mayor.

Henry nervously pulled his backpack closer to his body and swallowed hard as he walked further into the shop so that he was standing in front of the counter.

For a few moments, he just continued looking at the ground, until finally, the older man cleared his throat and said, "yes?"

The brunette bit his lip and replied, "I don't know how I should say this…"

"I would very much appreciate the direct, non-time wasting option," he said flatly.

Henry took a deep breath and nodded, "Archie told me the truth…"

Rumple couldn't help but roll his eyes, he knew that Archie wasn't the best person to retain their memories, but he couldn't bring himself to be too angry about it.

"And you came to me because…?" he asked with a tilted head.

"I…I know that…Regina would have come to you for help and I wanted to know if you could help me remember. I really want everything to go back to normal…"

"I don't see how things are that different from normal. The mayor was just as miserable when you had your memories, if not more. At least this way, she isn't subject to your constant bouts of hatred."

The boy bit the inside of his cheek, before he replied, "when I heard that she was in the hospital, I felt just as panicked as I did when I heard that my mom got trapped in that ice wall. She was willing to give up her happiness because I asked her to…I don't want to be that selfish anymore, I want my…I want my mom back…"

Rumple raised his eyebrow in shock for a split second, the boy seemed to have gone through quite the dramatic change.

However, when the moment passed, his features returned to normal and he said, "I was wondering when a Charming would come into my store demanding some quick fix."

"What?" Henry asked in surprise, he had fully expected the imp to deny that there was even a curse, since it was common knowledge that he would have gotten something he wanted from whatever deal he made, but the man looked almost relieved.

"I asked Regina to break apart Ruby and Belle because I thought that I deserved another chance. All I wanted was to make Belle happy, but it has become clear that she does not truly want me to be her True Love, no matter how hard I try. It is undeniable that she belongs with the wolf."

Henry furrowed his brow for a second, he didn't think that the Dark One would ever be capable of such repentance, but he also saw just how happy he was whenever he looked at Storybrooke's resident librarian. When he thought about it, it did make sense that he would be willing to go back on his twisted little plan once he realised that he was incapable of making the brunette happy.

"Why didn't you just break the curse?" he asked.

"Realising that you are willing to let a person go and actually doing so are very different things," Gold snapped. The fact was that he had been wrestling with his decision for over a month now. It had happened when he had taken Belle to the diner for lunch one day. As she had thanked Ruby for her service, he saw that her smile spread across her face almost instantly when the waitress had smiled at her. But it was not an easy thing to deal with. He had considered many times that he should go and see Regina and tell her that the curse needed to break, but the thought of losing Belle hurt. It was for that reason that he had decided just to wait. If the curse broke, then he would know that he and Belle were not meant to be together and now that Henry knew the truth, he had no doubt that the curse would be breaking soon.

Henry nodded and felt guilt bubble in his stomach at the pain flashing across the man's face, but he had said himself and that this is what he wanted.

"So you'll help me?" he asked hopefully.

Rumple looked down at his counter and thought about it for a moment, he knew that he still had a chance to back down from this, but then he thought back to one of Belle's frowns after they had kissed earlier and he closed his eyes in frustration. He knew that he would be able to go the rest of Belle's life pretending that they were both perfectly happy. But, especially since he had been in Storybrooke, he had started caring more about other's feelings more and more and he was starting to feel as though he should care about people other than himself and he had to admit that he wasn't too fond of that little fact.

"I…will…but it is not as simple as me simply clicking my fingers for you to have your memories returned. Your mother is quite diligent and she ensured that no memory potion could miraculously break down her plan…" Henry's shoulders slumped and Gold held up his hand to stop his complete disappointment, "the contract names the people on which memory potions will not work, with one exception. My visions of the future were unable to reveal every detail, so she was unable to put Elsa's name into the conditions…"

"And with Elsa remembering, my mom will be able to focus on breaking the curse with Regina!" Henry said excitedly, before he furrowed his brow and asked, "but what would your price be for a memory potion?"

Gold raised his eyebrows and smirked slightly at the boy, "you may not remember your mother's teachings, but you certainly seem to be just as astute."

The brunette just looked at him expectantly, with a slight upturn of his lip at the idea of sharing some qualities with the woman who had raised him.

"I see no reason to charge a fee, we are both going to get something from this," the man replied as he reached underneath the counter and pulled up a phial of blue liquid. "Convince dear Elsa to drink all of this and everything should be made much simpler."

"Thank you," Henry breathed as he picked up the potion and eyed it. He was sure that he should be questioning the man's motives, but he somehow seemed so genuine.

With another deep breath, he pocketed the potion and turned on his heels to put into action Anti-Anti-Operation SwanQueen.

sssss

With a shaking hand, Regina picked up the stopped bottle of a second apple cider.

Pouring a fair amount into the tumbler, she stared down at it for another moment, before she filled up the other half and then pulled it up to her lips. Within five seconds, she downed half of the glass and then went over and fell onto one the couches with a sigh.

She hadn't been expecting the kiss and even if she had, then she wouldn't have been able to mentally prepare for all of the doubts that it brought upon her.

Logically, she knew that without her memories, Emma would never be able to give her a True Love's Kiss. But there was the also fact that she and Emma had never actually shared that level of kiss, during their short relationship. There was every chance that they were not True Love's, especially since it didn't really seem as though they were meant to be together.

With another sigh, she placed the glass onto the coffee table and pulled the fabric of the hoodie closer to her body. In the passing months, the scent of Emma had long since gone away, which meant that the feel of it was all she had left.

Before she could continue to brood and even think about downing the rest of her drink, she felt a sudden drop in the temperature. Closing her eyes in frustration, she looked over her shoulder to see a familiar blonde stood there.

"Ingrid I presume?" she sighed as she stood from the couch, "whatever it is that you want, it can wait. Now get out of my home."

"Or what? You'll call the sheriff?" she retorted.

Regina clenched her jaw and raised her hand to allow a fireball to form, "I don't need the saviour to protect me."

"But you want her to."

The brunette clenched her jaw, but at the same time, she felt herself sway on her feet and it finally occurred to her just how much she had drank. Slowly, the ball began to fade in its intensity as she began to lose focus on what she was trying to do.

Blinking a couple of times, she tried to refocus herself, but it was almost as if the alcohol was blocking the magic that she usually felt pumping through her blood.

"Why exactly are you here?" the brunette slurred.

"Just needed to finish what I started, especially since I now know exactly what you did…did you even think about what your curse could have done to people not even involved? I wonder how Elsa would feel about a relationship she was forced into for months because of you. You do understand that you have deprived an entire kingdom of their queen."

The brunette took a couple of deep breaths, adamantly refusing to reply, since the blonde had just voiced everything she had been thinking about since she had discovered the origin of Elsa.

When she received no reply, Ingrid raised her hand and a swirling ball of ice began spinning just above it. Before she could allow herself to hesitate, mainly because she didn't want Regina to suddenly realise that she would be able to easily defeat her.

The former queen's eyes widened as an intense cold engulfed her entire being. She felt her muscles weaken within seconds and she crumpled to the ground, loudly hitting her head against the side of the coffee table as she did so.

Ingrid considered for a moment that she should probably stay and wait for the brunette's pulse to stop so that she could watch as the curse broke. But she decided that there was no way that anyone would be coming for the mayor any time soon. She would be long gone before another person even considered coming here.

So with one last glance at the unconscious and slowly freezing brunette, she smirked and flicked her wrist to poof herself away.

* * *

-One hour later-

Emma blew out a breath as she pulled up to the mayoral mansion.

Once she had arrived at the Snow Queen's lair, she had found it completely empty and with nothing but a mirror, she couldn't really see what the woman could be planning.

Originally, she was going to go back to the station and explain to Elsa what she had found, missing out the kiss of course, but she had found herself turning towards Milflin Street before she could even consider what she was doing. The closer she got, the more she felt that she would just have to go and apologise for kissing her and promise to carry on with Operation Mongoose. No matter how much she hated the thought of Regina actually leaving town, she still wanted to be the one to make it happen for her, simply because she wanted to leave. Just because she didn't return her attraction, despite how intense the kiss, it didn't mean that she had to break her promise.

However, she soon realised that she was still sitting in her car after ten minutes and she blew out a breath and told herself to just suck it up and do what had to be done. She knew there was no way that she would be able to just go about her day with the knowledge that Regina probably resented her for crossing the line.

So, with a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and pushed her car door open and strode up to the front door before she could change her mind. Raising her hand up, she knocked it against the door three times and then took a step back. Shifting from foot to foot, she waited nervously and started worrying at her lip.

For a second, she wondered whether the mayor would have, in fact, gone straight home after all that had happened. It was possible that she had actually felt sick and was asleep, but somehow, the blonde just didn't believe that. The longer that she waited for someone to come and open the door, the more and more anxious she started to feel.

After a full fifteen minutes, she was about to turn on her heels and decide to come back later to try and apologise, but she felt a twist in her gut at the idea of leaving. It was almost as if her body knew something that her mind couldn't have possibly have known.

Turning back, she placed her hand on the door and whispered, "please don't kill me for this, Regina."

Closing her eyes in concentration, she thought back to her magic lesson. She focused on exactly what she wanted. She wanted to door to click open so that she could get to the brunette. She hoped that she would be yelled at, because at least that would mean that she would be alive and well.

The lock responded to her wish as it clicked open to grant her access.

Emma blew out a breath of relief and allowed her feet to lead her to where she wished to go. Pushing a door open, it soon became clear that she was in the mayor's study.

Tentatively, she walked further into the room and began to worry that she was being irrational and that she would be forced to somehow arrest herself for breaking and entering.

However, before she could even consider turning on her heels to check the other rooms, her eyes feel onto the floor and her mouth fell open.

Her feet responded before she registered the implications, as she jumped over the couch and fell onto her knees beside the woman.

"Regina…" she breathed, and brought a shaking hand up to rest on her forehead, instantly cringing at just how ice cold her skin was.

"Come on, don't be dead, don't be dead," she muttered, placing her fingers on her neck. After a few desperate shifts, she blew out a breath of relief when she felt a slight flutter underneath her fingers.

Pushing herself up higher, she got her phone out of her pocket and quickly dialled 911, "I need an ambulance sent to 108 Milflin Street," she barked down the device.

Before the operator could ask any questions, she ended the call and leaned back down to be closer to Regina.

"It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay," she murmured. However, as the initial shock of it all fell away, she blinked at the mayor's oddly familiar choice of clothing.

 _"You can't complain about being cold and then refuse to wear my hoodie," Emma chuckled._

 _"Do I seem like the type to wear this?" Regina asked, holding up the offending garment to her laughing girlfriend, "I have never owned a hoodie in my life."_

 _"Well you do now, your majesty," the blonde smirked, jumping off the bed to take it out of her hand, pulling it up so that she could offer to put it over her head for her. "You can keep it if you put it on right now."_

 _"How is that an offer? I just said that I don't want to wear it," the brunette replied flatly._

 _Emma pouted and replied, "give me a chance to change your mind, it is ridiculously comfortable…"_

 _The mayor tilted her head and sighed as she put out her arms by way of permission. A moment later, she pulled it over her head and she frowned._

 _"Fine you have proven your point, Miss Swan."_

A loud knocking brought Emma out of the strange vision/memory and she heard someone shout, "hello?"

With a sigh of relief, she jumped to her feet and called out, "in here, hurry!"

A second later, two paramedics ran in and set to work helping the former Evil Queen.

* * *

 _Elsa tapped her finger against the table and blew out a breath of frustration. She had been working on the paperwork that sadly came with her new found queen ship. The sound of the library opening behind her sent relief throughout her system and she turned with a smile._

 _"I thought that you wouldn't distract me, Anna," she chuckled._

 _The red-head smiled at the other woman and replied, "something important came up that couldn't wait," with that, she opened the door wider to reveal a very timid looking blonde woman, with a crimson hue forming across her face._

 _"Giselle," Elsa squeaked. Usually, she was far more composed around her handmaiden, but she also usually had far more time to prepare when she was going to be faced with the woman she liked more than she probably should._

 _Raising from her chair, she shot the woman a quick smile, before she turned back to her sister and gave her a look that either said 'what the hell are you doing?' or 'help'._

 _Anna nodded at the handmaiden and slightly nudged her so that she was further into the room._

 _But when neither blonde said anything, the red-head rolled her eyes and said, "Kristoff and I had a picnic earlier, so we won't be joining you for dinner tonight. Giselle thought that perhaps you would enjoy her company…"_

 _Elsa felt her throat constrict and she looked over to the blonde whose blush had only intensified, but nonetheless, she nodded quickly to confirm Anna's words._

 _"That would be wonderful," she breathed, "six o'clock?"_

 _"Yes, your majesty," Gisselle replied, with a slight bow of her head._

 _"Please, Giselle, call her Elsa," Anna chuckled._

 _The hand-maiden smiled at the thought, which only widened when Elsa nodded to confirm her sister's offer was genuine._

"Giselle has been just as worried as me since you went missing," Anna sighed as she finished her latest story. Since the sheriff had left, Elsa had been asking her many questions and though she was happy that the blonde was interested in her past, she did wish that she didn't have to explain every little detail of her life. Especially since Elsa had never actually made it to that dinner after she had claimed that she was going to the market. Now she assumed that her sister had gone to the market to get her a birthday present and had somehow gotten side tracked when she had discovered where their aunt must have gone before she had ended up in this realm. The hand maiden had been missing the queen very much and there was the issue that she had never gotten the chance to confirm that the blonde felt the same way, even Anna's assurances that her sister did like her was not enough when the woman herself was not around.

Elsa nodded and looked down at the desk. The mention of the name Giselle invoked unexplainable butterflies in her stomach, which was a feeling that she had never once felt around Emma, no matter how much she had convinced herself that she loved the woman. Now that she thought about it, she certainly loved spending time with the saviour and their relationship certainly had its good moments, but thinking back on it, there was nothing particularly amazing.

Anna bit her lip and watched her sister as she thought over what she had been told and she looked over her shoulder to Kristoff who had been set free on the computer that he had been so curious about. He had gotten as far as Google and appeared to be typing in random letters while constantly looking at the instructions that Elsa had hastily written for him.

"Can I ask you a question?" the red-head asked.

Elsa looked up from the desk with raised eyebrows, she had been the one asking all of the questions thus far, so she just slightly inclined her head.

"Are those pants uncomfortable?"

The blonde looked down at the skin tight jeans and then back at the red-head. After a moment, she allowed a small smile to tug at her lips and replied, "extremely."

Both women laughed lightly, but before they could continue the conversation, the sound of feet hitting the floor stopped them and they both turned to look at the winded brunette boy.

"Henry?" Elsa asked with a furrowed brow as she stood from her seat and went over to him. Placing her hands on his shoulder, she continued, "are you okay?"

"F-fine," he said between deep breaths, after having ran to the station from the pawn store. He tried to get more information out, but he decided that the alternative would be better and just pulled the phial out of his pocket and placed it in her hand.

With a furrowed brow, she turned it over in her hand and asked, "what is this?"

"I got a memory potion from Mr Gold…he said that it will make you remember everything if you drink it. Mom told me that your sister showed up so I thought that this would make it easier…"

The blonde's eyes widened and she looked over at Anna who seemed to be brimming with excitement.

"Mr Gold?" she asked cautiously.

"Can you trust me?" he begged.

She bit her lip and inspected the blue liquid, but one more look over at Anna and Kristoff made up her mind for her as she realised that she wanted the life described to her back. Within a second, she popped the stopper off the phial and downed its entirety in a second.

For about five seconds, silence surrounded the room and three sets of eyes lingered on her expectantly. Blinking a couple of times, she felt a twist in her gut at the thought that perhaps it hadn't worked, a jolt forced her eyes shut and images flashed through her mind as the empty phial dropped to the ground with a clatter.

When she opened her eyes, she spun around and looked straight at the red-head, "Anna," she breathed.

The younger woman raised to her feet as the blonde crossed the room and she was prepared to accept the tight hug with a small gleeful laugh. They remained like this for about five seconds, before a phone rang out and Elsa leaned back to pull it out of her pocket.

Anna furrowed her brow and the blonde mumbled that she would explain later as she clicked onto the new message.

"Regina's in the hospital," she breathed, which caused Henry's eyes to widen, before he could open his mouth, she held up her hand and said, "I'll take you."

"Thank you," he sighed, before he turned and made for the exit.

Elsa stepped away from Anna and grabbed the keys from her desk, "I'll have to explain what a car is before the phone…"

* * *

Emma bit her nail and allowed her knee to bounce up and down nervously as she stared at the door in front of her. She had been here for about forty minutes and she had yet to hear anything about the mayor's condition. With each passing moment, anxiety began to build and she was sure that it was partly because she may not have been in this position if she hadn't kissed her in the forest.

A moment later, someone fell into the seat next to her and she swallowed hard before turning to face the blonde, "hey."

"Hey," Elsa replied with a supportive smile, "what happened?"

"I…I went to her house to talk to her…" Emma began, looking at the other blonde to gauge to her reaction, but when she saw no sign of anger or jealousy, she continued, "I found Regina unconscious in her study…"

The other blonde nodded slowly and asked, "has Whale brought any news?"

"Not yet," Emma replied while biting the inside of her cheek.

The two of them fell into silence for a few seconds, before a thought occurred to the sheriff, "did you leave Anna and Kristoff at the station?"

Elsa shook her head and replied, "Kristoff was complaining about being hungry so I asked Henry to take them to the cafeteria, I promised to call him with any news about Regina."

The saviour nodded, before she furrowed her brow, the way that she had said 'Kristoff' somehow sounded far more natural than it would have when she had left her a couple of hours ago. And now that she thought about, her whole demeanour seemed somehow different.

At the woman's questioning gaze, the other woman said, "Henry got a memory potion for me and after spending time with Anna and Kristoff, I actually wanted my memories back."

Emma nodded slowly as she took this in and asked, "so you remember everything?"

"I remember that I wanted to find Ingrid so badly that it consumed my mind and I missed what could have been the best dinner of my life…" she sighed, before she cringed when she realised that she was in fact talking to the woman who was still her girlfriend. "I…"

"You had a girlfriend in Arendelle?" the other blonde asked, without a hint of resentment in her voice, but rather a heap of guilt.

Elsa smiled slightly at the thought of Giselle and she shook her head, "we were not officially together…but I believe that she may have been…"

"The one?"

She nodded and sighed, "I know that you're the last person I should be telling this to, Emma, but…"

The other blonde held up one hand to halt her apology and placed her other on the woman's hand, squeezing lightly.

"I have loved being able to be your girlfriend, Elsa and maybe in another universe we could have made our relationship work. But you have another life that you need to go back to. Your kingdom needs you more than Storybrooke does…"

"And Regina needs you more than I do," Elsa replied with a slightly sad smile.

Emma furrowed her brow, looking very much confused.

The other blonde smiled slightly at her and said, "with my memories, I can stop allowing jealousy to cloud my judgement. The saviour and the former Evil Queen make quite the epic story and I believe that the two of you have always belonged together, the two of you just need the chance to actually be together."

"You make it sound so simple," the sheriff sighed, "whenever I'm with her, I feel like it could be just that easy, but it just seems like it can't be…"

"Well, I could make it that much simpler for you," Elsa offered. When Emma raised her eyebrows questioningly, she explained, "I'm breaking up with you, Emma."

The blonde frowned for a moment, and felt a brief stab of sadness in her stomach. The pair had lived together for the past six months, after all, but she knew that this had to happen for everyone to get what they wanted and so, with a few tears running down her cheeks, she leaned forward and hugged Elsa, whispering, "thank you" into her ear.

When the pair finally leaned back, Emma said, "at least let me help you, Anna and Kristoff to find a way back to Arendelle…"

"I would expect nothing less from the saviour," Elsa chuckled lightly, "but it can wait until you ensure that your queen is safe. I'm assuming that this is Ingrid's doing?"

The blonde nodded lightly, "I think that her heart was frozen…you wouldn't happen to know a quick fix would you?" she asked hopefully.

Shaking her head, she said, "the only solution is True Love."

"Of course it is," the saviour huffed as she fell back against her chair.

"You don't believe that you are Regina's True Love?"

"I only just accepted that I like her…" Emma frowned, "I don't even think that I've spent enough time with her to qualify as True Love's…"

"I believe that you will find a way, Emma," Elsa said softly.

"You sound like my mother," she huffed.

Elsa laughed softly and the pair fell into a comfortable silence, before Emma frowned and asked, "why did you never question about your missing memories?"

"I just never thought much about the past…now that I think about it, it was almost as if my mind was wired to only care about my future, or more specifically, my future with you. I'm not quite sure why that would have happened…"

The other blonde tilted her head, but before she could think about this further, the door in front of her opened and she perked up as Dr Whale emerged. At his expression, she instantly deflated, but looked at him expectantly anyway.

"Regina's vitals are stable and I have applied as many measures as possible to keep her warm…but despite my best efforts, her core temperature continues to drop…" he explained.

"Meaning?" Emma asked with a slight catch in her voice.

"I believe that it may be possible to keep her stable for a few days at the most, but at this rate, there is nothing more I can do to prevent the inevitable."

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought of it :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**T/W for a brief character death**

 **A/N Hey guys, sorry for any confusion on the last chapter, the doc manager got rid of my italic settings, so it may not have been clear what was supposed to be the flashbacks. The Giselle part was a flashback and I've fixed the formatting now, so it may be worth going back just to see which parts were the flashbacks if you were confused…**

Chapter seventeen

"Elsa took Anna and Kristoff to our apartment," Emma announced as she walked into the room holding two to-go cups.

Henry looked over his shoulder and offered her a weak smile and thanked the blonde when she handed him the hot chocolate he had asked for. Silently, he turned back to the woman lay unconscious in the bed, layered with a lot of blankets. That paired with the blasting heat meant that he was sure she would have probably been fine if her freezing hadn't been the result of magic. He was also sure that she probably would have been fine if she had never had to cast the curse, which meant that this only added to his growing guilt concerning what his past-self had done.

Emma took a seat next to him and smiled at his as supportively as she possibly could, though the worry was evident on her face.

The two of them remained in silence for about five minutes, before Henry asked, "do you think that she's going to be okay?"

The blonde looked over to him, she considered lying as her mother probably would have done by telling him that she was sure that everything was going to be okay. Despite this instinct, she decided to go another route, "I don't know Henry, but she is pretty strong. If anyone can get through this, it's Regina."

"But she has no reason to fight this," the boy replied bitterly, before his eyes widened when he realised that he had voiced his thoughts out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked with raised eyebrows, genuinely worried that her son had become very much cynical.

"You probably won't believe me if I told you…" he sighed.

The blonde tilted her head and reached over to place her hand on his knee, squeezing slightly, she assured, "since coming here, there isn't much that would seem impossible to me."

Henry nodded, but still looked at his lap as he wondered whether this was a good idea. Maybe if she knew what was going on, it would make it easier for her to get some memories back?

"Every memory you have since I was born is not real," he admitted.

Emma opened her mouth and closed her mouth a few times, before she finally decided on a reply, "I think I'm going to need a bit more information…"

"You actually gave me up for adoption when I was born and Regina adopted me. I came and found you ten years later and brought you to Storybrooke because I wanted you to break the curse. I don't know all of the details, but I do know that the reason I loved spending time with Regina is because deep down I knew that she's actually my mom…"

"Okay…" the blonde said slowly. For a moment, she wanted to believe that the boy was wrong. She could tell that he was telling the truth, but that didn't change the fact that maybe he just believed it to be the truth. However, a part of her wanted it to be true, because there was a chance that it could explain everything that had felt off for months. "And who took away our memories?"

Henry took a deep breath and nodded towards unconscious woman.

"But…why?" the saviour breathed, looking towards the older brunette almost as if she would suddenly wake up to answer her question.

The awake brunette ducked his head and swallowed hard at the same time, his chin began to wobble uncontrollably and Emma looked at him in surprise for a split second, before she brought her arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer to her.

"What is it, Henry?" she asked as he leaned into her shoulder and allowed the tears to trail down his cheeks.

Between his sobbing, he managed to say, "Archie told me that I thought she was evil and I pushed her until she believed this was the only way that I could be happy…the two of you were in love and I forced you to break up…"

Emma's eyes widened and she looked back over to Regina. She was torn between complete shock at the fact that she must have spent so long under a new curse and happiness at the idea that they had been together and in love. It explained so much. Everything finally made sense, and she clenched her fist and bit her lip as thought about all of the pain that could have been avoided.

"It's all my fault and there's nothing that I can do to make it better," the boy continued to sob, "I tried kissing her when you were gone and nothing happened…"

The blonde nodded slowly, but continued to say nothing as her mind continued to go over all of the new information. After about ten seconds, she felt guilt build in her stomach when she realised that her child was crying and she pushed past what his actions had caused and pulled him even closer.

"Whatever you did in the past, you clearly care now…" she said, wishing that she knew of something better to say, but the fact was that she was a little mad at him thinking that he could have caused the woman so much heartache.

"But I don't remember loving her…or maybe she doesn't believe that I could love her…either way, she's going to die and it's all my fault!"

Emma took a deep, steadying breath to try and get the pain in her stomach to subside at the word 'die' and she shook her head, "she's going to be fine…"

"You don't sound sure," Henry frowned as he leaned back so that he could look her in the eye.

"I…" the blonde trailed off and then looked over to Regina, "I guess I'm not…I don't even know what we have that could make her better…"

"True Love is the only thing," he replied with a sigh, before he perked up and said, "but she probably still believed that you love her…"

"I…I kissed her in the forest and the curse didn't break…"

"That was because you didn't know that she's your True Love, but you know now," he insisted, jumping to his feet with conviction, "come on, mom, it can't hurt to try…"

The bit her lip and decided not to voice the fact that it would hurt a hell of a lot if it didn't work. Instead, she focused on the hopeful look on his face and nodded slowly as she slowly rose to her feet, hardening her resolve as she did so.

As she took a step closer to the bed, she looked over her shoulder to see Henry nodding once again, no doubt in an attempt to be reassuring.

Swallowing hard, she looked back to Regina and tried to conceive of a world in which the woman's body was no longer able to deal with the intense cold. Even if she couldn't remember the woman being a huge part of her life, she also somehow felt complete hopelessness engulf her very being at the thought of the brunette dying. She just knew that without her, she could never truly be happy without her, even if she never got her memories back, she knew that it would hurt everyday knowing that she could never be with her.

With that heavy weight on her shoulders, she leaned down and tenderly pressed her lips to the former queen's, closing her eyes as she did so to prevent a few stray tears escaping.

For a few seconds, she allowed herself to simply stay in this position, pretending that it had worked. But she had felt what it's like to break a curse before, she had felt the blinding light emanate from her lips, spreading across the entire town as everyone had their memories restored.

Leaning back up, she didn't turn around for a moment, knowing that Henry would be looking at her expectantly, probably needing her to confirm for him that it hadn't worked.

"Mom?" Henry asked, and Emma swallowed hard at the hope in his voice.

Before she could say anything, her phone rang out and she furrowed her brow and she pulled it out of her pocket, though part of her was happy that it had prevented her from having to tell Henry that she had failed.

"Hello?" she answered, with a slight catch in her throat.

The person on the other end of the line was silent for a moment, clearly questioning whether they should ask if she was okay, but finally David answered, "Ruby just called me, the woman who attacked Regina is in the diner, I should be able to get there soon but I was chasing Pongo in the forest again…are you closer to the diner?"

"I'll be right there," Emma said instantly, hanging up after saying a brief 'goodbye' to her father.

"I have to go and deal with something, can you stay here for a while?"

Henry sighed and nodded, knowing that his mother loved to avoid uncomfortable topics. He could see why she would much rather imply that the kiss hadn't worked than outright tell him.

With a quick look at the unconscious woman, the blonde pocketed her phone and strode over to door.

Once she was out of the room, Henry pulled his chair closer to the bed and placed his hand over Regina's.

"I promise we'll find a way to break the curse, Regi…mom."

* * *

As the bell rang out over the door, Ingrid turned on her stool with a smile, which only widened when she saw who it was.

"Emma," she smiled, "it's nice to see you again."

The blonde just narrowed her eyes and crossed the diner until she was standing in front of her, sub-consciously placing her hand onto her holster.

"I wish I could say the same," she said, venom dripping through every word, "you're under arrest."

Ingrid's eyebrows shot up and she asked, "whatever for?"

"For one count of un-aggravated assault and the attempted murder of Regina Mills."

The older blonde's smile dropped and she furrowed her brow, as she rose from her chair, "attempted?"

The saviour clenched her fist at the sound of disappointment in her voice and replied, "Regina is still alive and you better surrender quickly or this could turn ugly pretty quickly."

"That's not possible!" she roared, seemingly ignoring the second part of the younger woman's statement, "no one was supposed to have found her! She should be dead and you should have your memories back…"

Emma frowned at her anger and asked, not bothering to look at the confused looks of the other patrons, "why the hell would you care if the curse got broken?"

"Because, it's the only way to restore things to the way they should be. You and Elsa do not belong together, at least not in that way."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" the sheriff asked, slowly coming to the conclusion that this woman was batshit insane, after all, who would go to the local diner after trying to kill the town's mayor.

"You're supposed to be my sisters and this was the only way to erase your disgusting relationship!"

The saviour's eyebrows shot up and her mouth fell open. She was just as confused as she was before, but she also found that her anger was growing the more the woman spoke. The reason that she had tried to kill Regina had been so illogical. If the curse had broken, then she would have remembered being in a relationship with Regina, so how could this woman possibly think that her plan was a sound one? If she had found the mayor dead in her study, then how could this woman possibly think that she would still want to join her for whatever insane plan she had? Somehow all of these questions just made her that much more pissed. How could she have planned to kill Regina and not have thought through all of the implications? Regina's death would have been so pointless and that thought made Emma release the gun from its holster.

"That makes absolutely no sense," the sheriff said through gritted teeth as she raised the gun.

Ingrid seemingly didn't notice the weapon as she began whispering to herself, "perhaps there is another way. I just have to wait for her to die and then I can erase they're memories…"

"Shut up!" Emma shouted, finally gaining her full undivided intention. "If Regina dies, it will be just as pointless as whatever your ridiculous plan is," she said threateningly, pointing the gun straight at her.

"You can't do this," the older blonde said confidently.

The sheriff squeezed the trigger minutely, allowing herself for a moment to imagine that she wasn't in a diner full of witnesses. But, her finger went limp at the sound of the bell ringing out, which was accompanied by the sound of her father frantically shouting, "Emma!"

Obviously the man must have seen that the Snow Queen was completely defenceless as clearly as everyone else in the room, so Emma blew out a breath and lowered the weapon, while she reached behind her back and pulled the handcuffs from her belt.

She opened her mouth to read the woman her Miranda Rights, but when she looked at her, she could only see the woman who had left Regina to die a slow, painful and lonely death while she went to start the next phase of her insane and, ultimately pointless, plan.

It was for this reason that she holstered her gun and took the opportunity of her still reeling from the information she had just reached. With all of the force she could muster, the saviour pulled her arm back and smashed her fist back into her face.

As Ingrid slumped to the ground, David's eyebrows shot up and he looked questioningly at his daughter, who just shook her head.

"Don't judge, I needed that," she sighed, "do you mind dealing with her? I promised Henry that I would be back soon…"

"Sure…" the blond replied unsurely, but before he could even think about changing his mind, Emma had already left.

Looking down at the unconscious woman, he blew out a frustrated breath, but the sound of the kitchen door slamming open drew his attention and he saw a familiar old woman brandishing a cross-brow.

"Listen to the sheriff, deputy, this is bad for business," Granny growled.

Charming felt a twinge of fear and quickly nodded as he leaned down to pick up the Snow Queen.

* * *

-The next day- ( **once the flashback ends** )

 _Emma slowly opened her eyes halfway and smiled softly to herself when she felt just how comfortable the mattress was. Instantly, she knew that she must have fell asleep after her night with her girlfriend._

 _Moving her arm over, she frowned when she felt nothing next to her and she finally opened her eyes fully, relaxing marginally when she saw Regina was sitting up._

 _"Babe?" she asked, her voice plagued with morning grogginess, "are you okay?"_

 _Regina looked over her shoulder as Emma sat up and she smiled softly at the other woman's concern. Shifting backwards, she allowed the other woman to place her arm around her shoulder and she replied, "it's nothing really, I was just thinking, nothing important."_

 _"I always know when you're lying," the blonde reminded her and the brunette rolled her eyes playfully._

 _"Honestly, Emma…"_

 _"Regina, you can tell me anything, no matter what it is, I want to make you feel better."_

 _The former queen looked down and nodded before she took a deep breath and replied, "I was just thinking about Henry. It's been a week since we told him and he hasn't even tried to talk to me…I just feel like we can never work as long as he doesn't want us together…"_

 _Emma sighed sadly as the woman brought up the same worries she had been thinking about since they had told their son. But, still, she brought her finger under the brunette's chin and raised her face to return their eye contact._

 _"Henry will come around eventually Regina. I've realised that you've changed and eventually everyone else will see it…"_

 _"I have done some terrible things Emma…if the curse wouldn't have broken, I probably would have killed you before I realised the reason that I found you so infuriating," she sighed._

 _Emma's eyes widened slightly and she asked, "Gold wrote that into the curse?"_

 _"He had to cover all of his bases," she shrugged, "it's a good thing that he did, I doubt I would have been able to live an immortal life without you…"_

 _The blonde blinked for a few moments as she took in the new revelation, before dopey smile spread across her face when the woman's words registered, "you're way more charming than anyone thinks, you know?"_

 _Regina rolled her eyes and said, "I thought this was supposed to be your attempt to make me feel better…"_

 _Emma chuckled lightly and brought her closer to her body, after a few moments, she said, "Henry is just a little boy, Regina. I know you love him and eventually he will discover just how much. But we're still adults and he can't tell us that we can't be together."_

 _The brunette frowned and looked away for a moment, choosing not to voice her thought that she would probably do whatever Henry asked her to do, no matter how miserable it made her._

 _For a few moments, the pair fell into silence and Regina leaned her head against her girlfriend's shoulder who looked over to the clock with a sigh._

 _"It's almost time to get up…" Emma announced, sounding very much disappointed._

 _Regina hummed, echoing her disappointment as she peered over to the clock, "not that soon…"_

 _"I swapped shifts with David so I didn't miss our date…but I do have to start early…"_

 _The brunette sighed, but still brought her arm around the other woman's waist, burrowing further into her side._

 _"Don't you understand that I have to go to work?" Emma laughed, though she made no attempt to push her away._

 _"Just text your father and ask him to forward all emergency calls to your phone for a few hours. You have important business to attend to with the mayor," she yawned, already allowing her eyes to fall shut._

 _"Should I tell him that this business includes the need for body warmth?"_

 _"Tell him whatever you want as long as you get to stay," Regina mumbled._

 _The blonde placed a kiss onto the other woman's forehead and managed to lean over and grab her phone off the bedside table._

 _"Well who am I to deny the mayor of Storybrooke?" she chuckled as she unlocked the device._

With her head pitched up by her hand, Emma slowly opened her eyes and groaned when she realised that she must have fallen asleep in the plastic chair. Looking across the room, she saw that Henry's chair was still close to the bed and he must have laid his head on the edge of it before he had given into sleep.

Running her hand across her face, she tried as best she could to stretch out her stiff muscles, but she stopped when images of her dream came crashing down upon her. If she'd had the dream the day before, then she probably would have just felt guilty and pretended that it didn't happy, but today, she knew that it was a memory. Looking over to Regina, she tried to swallow down the lump in her throat, but she couldn't. Regina had pretty much predicted that he would break them apart and she obviously didn't do enough to prevent it from happening.

Looking back over to Henry to make sure that he was sleeping soundly, she stood from her chair as quietly as she possibly could.

Ten minutes later, she pulled up outside of her destination and got out of her bug, walking straight up to the door.

Swallowing hard, she began to think through what she was about to do. She didn't really think about it when she had allowed her feet to take her here, but it didn't take her long to decide that she needed this, so she pushed the door open.

The bell rang out throughout the shop and the shop owner looked up with raised eyebrows, "well I am popular today," he chuckled, "first the potion for Elsa and then the magic dampening band for her dear old aunt, there is a limit to what I am willing to give for free."

"I would have thought that you already reached that limit when you were asked the first favour," Emma sneered as she crossed the shop over to the counter.

"What can I say, sheriff? I'm feeling somewhat generous these days."

"Don't you mean guilty?" the blonde shot back, "Henry told me why you want the curse broken so badly…"

Rumple clenched his jaw, he had to admit that he wasn't too impressed with the idea that the boy had been going around telling people his business, but is wasn't as if he had created any contract that said he couldn't, so he just decided to move past it.

"Why is it that you are here, Miss Swan?" he growled, resisting the urge to just throw her out of his store.

"You wrote the curse, so I figured that you would be the best person to answer my question…"

The man looked at her for a moment, before he just slightly inclined his head and replied rather sardonically, "what's one more favour?"

Emma heard the sarcasm, but she decided to just move past it, as she began, "since I found Regina yesterday, I've been having these little flashbacks…I remember moments with her, but me kissing her still didn't do anything…"

"These memories mean that the curse is beginning to unravel…but, you're afraid that these memories mean that you remember loving her? Which would mean that the two of you are not True Loves?"

The blonde looked down at the counter, somehow it hurt a hell of a lot more to hear her doubts out loud, but after a moment, she looked back up at the man and nodded.

"You want the curse broken, but what if there is no way for the curse to break?"

"There is always a way to break a curse, sheriff, of course, some methods are more pleasant than others," he replied, which a slight insane giggle.

Emma furrowed her brow and looked at him expectantly.

"Ingrid may have been insane, but she still understood the basic rules of any curse. The reason that she attempted to murder Regina is because when she dies, the curse will break."

"And you would be fine with that?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I suppose I would not be quite so distraught as you and your dear son, but I see no reason why we can't all get what we want. In the Enchanted Forest, this would have certainly been quite the death sentence for her majesty, but in this world, death is not quite so final…"

Emma swallowed hard when what he meant dawned upon her and she began shaking her head, "you want me to let her die…"

"She dies; you get your memories back. Whale resuscitates her and then your kiss will bring her back. I don't see the downside."

"Apart from maybe the kiss not working or Whale not being able to restart her heart…"

Rumple tilted his head in thought, before an idea occurred to him and he said, "perhaps you may have stumbled onto a better plan…an Act of True Love would break this curse, and what could be a greater sacrifice than splitting your own heart so that you both may live?"

"What?" the blonde breathed, the word laced heavily with disbelief.

"The Snow Queen's blast works by freezing the heart. Whale may not be able to restart it, but once you have your memories returned, you would be able to remove the frozen heart and replace it with half of your own," he explained.

"And…it's possible to share one heart?" she asked sceptically.

Rumple rolled his eyes at her and replied, "there are accounts of it in Enchanted Forest folklore."

"You want me to risk my life based on…folklore?"

"Your whole life is based on folklore, Princess Emma White," the man chuckled lightly, though it was mixed with a hint of frustration.

"That solves one problem, Gold, but not the other one…"

"Well that's up to you, saviour, if you believe that you share True Love with the queen, then you have no reason to believe that this would not work. However, if you don't believe it, then your only options are to either let her die or try and save her anyway, which would mean that both of you would be dead. I don't care which one you choose, as long as the curse is broken, I get what I want."

Emma bit her lip and thought over his words.

She wanted to believe that they were True Love's, but from what she could tell, they hadn't really been together for that long before they had been broken apart. Before Storybrooke, she probably would have thought that meant that they were not meant to be together. But before Storybrooke, she hadn't read all of the stories of her parents. How they had always found each other no matter what they were up against. She used to find those stories difficult to swallow and, at times, outright cheesy. Now, though, she found herself praying that she and Regina shared the same kind of love and if they had been able to form such a connection so quickly, then she was sure that she and Regina would have been able to as well.

"I…need to think about it…" she sighed as she turned on her heels.

"Well, don't take too long, sheriff Swan, Regina Mills isn't long for this world as it is."

* * *

 _"Mommy," the four-year-old said excitedly, jumping onto the woman's bed, "mommy, it's time to wake up."_

 _Regina groaned slightly, but when her tired mind finally registered just who it was waking her up, a smile graced her lips and she slowly opened her eyes to see the small brunette sat at the end of her bed practically vibrating with excitement._

 _Looking over to her clock, she couldn't stop herself from grinning when she said, "it's five thirty in the morning, Henry."_

 _The boy didn't seem to notice what she meant by that, he only noticed the fact that she was awake, so in one little hop, he jumped on her and said, "Christmas, mommy, you gotta wake up."_

 _With practiced ease, the older brunette brought her arms around the boy to steady him so that he didn't fall off the bed and replied, "you can open your presents in a couple hours, my little prince." As she spoke, she attempted in vain to close her eyes._

 _Henry pouted for a second, before he noticed that his mother's eyes were closed and he poked her until she opened her eyes to see the adorable little pout, "please mommy."_

 _Regina sighed with a little smile, before she sat up, allowing him to fall comfortably into his lap, "well it was worth a try," she chuckled, "presents and then go back to sleep."_

 _The little brunette nodded excitedly and she pulled him into her arms as she stood from her bed, knowing that she probably wouldn't actually get to go back to sleep until Henry ran out of energy, but a woman could hope._

"Henry," someone whispered softly.

The pre-teen furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out exactly where he was, but when he finally opened his eyes, he blew out a little breath when he saw the very brunette from his dream was still unconscious.

He continued to look at her for a minute, before he turned to see who had woken him up and he smiled slightly at the woman holding the to-go bag from Granny's.

"Hey," he said groggily, "where'd mom go?"

Snow fell into the chair next to him and said, "she called me and asked me to bring you something to eat. She said she has something important to do."

Henry nodded, and silently accepted the container of breakfast and stared at it listlessly as he tried to convince himself that he was actually hungry. After a few moments of doing this, he placed the container onto the bedside table and said, "I'll eat it later."

The older brunette sighed at the boy who was refusing to look at her.

Though she and Regina hadn't been on the best terms for a long time, she had never wanted the woman dead. There had always been a part of her that believed that the woman was capable of redemption. Now, it seemed as if there was something bigger going on between the woman and her daughter and grandson. Even though a part of her wanted to ask what it was, she somehow figured that she would be finding out soon anyway, which meant that for now she just had to try and be supportive in the meantime. She only wished that she knew how to make the boy feel better when she didn't know why he cared so much about the woman.

"Henry…"

Before she could attempt to say anything, Henry looked up at her and asked, "can I ask you a question?"

"Er…of course you can…" she replied unsurely.

"How would you feel if my mom and Regina were True Love's?"

Snow's eyebrows shot up and she had the urge to ask him what had brought this on, but she could see that he would much rather just have his question answered. Plus, there was the odd realisation that she didn't find the idea nearly as objectionable as she thought that she probably should have.

"If they are True Love's, then there's nothing that I can do or say that would make it not true…so I guess that I would have no choice but to accept it…"

Henry nodded slowly, as he looked back over to Regina.

Snow blew out a breath as he fell into silence and she realised that she probably hadn't said exactly what he wanted to hear, so she decided to go for what her first thought had been.

"The thought would have been repulsive a few years ago…but now…" she sighed, looking over to her unconscious ex-step mother. She continued, "she isn't the same woman who devoted her life to destroying my happiness in the Enchanted Forest. Regina is fiercely productive and any mother would be lucky to trust her to love their child unconditionally…"

A small smile began to spread across Henry's lips at her words and he briefly wondered whether his adoptive mother could hear what Snow had said. He sincerely wished that she could so that she knew that if the curse broke, everything wouldn't go back to the way that it was before. He resolved to be the best son in the world if…when she came back.

"Thanks Grandma," he mumbled as he reached forward to pick up his food and popped the lid off the container.

Snow smiled as the boy began to eat and the pair fell into a comfortable silence while she pulled out her own meal, both of them wishing that the woman in the hospital bed would wake up soon.

* * *

"This is amazing," Kristoff breathed as he looked at the TV in awe.

Anna was just as amazed at the moving images as her fiancé, though she was far more interested in her blonde sister watching them with a smirk on her face.

"Isn't it rather creepy to be watching other people though?" the red-head asked, which made Elsa actually laugh out loud.

Once she had stopped laughing, the blonde replied, "the people on screen are actors, you are not actually watching other people's lives. They recorded this in advance and then they broadcast it for people to watch."

Kristoff furrowed his brow, clearly prepared with more questions, but he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

Elsa furrowed her brow and motioned for them to stay in the living room as she followed the sound of the footsteps to the kitchen.

She watched as Emma made her way over to the fridge and pulled out a beer.

"It's nine in the morning," she announced as she walked over to the other blonde and took it off her.

The sheriff sighed and looked as though she was about to protest, but instead, she just nodded and fell onto a stool at the counter.

"I guess you're right," she sighed again, placing her head into her hands.

Elsa tilted her head in sympathy, before a thought occurred to her and she cringed, "is Regina…?"

The other blonde looked up and smiled sadly and shook her head, "she's still alive…at least for now…"

"You'll find a way to help her, Emma…"

"The problem is that I already did…" she replied, looking back down at the counter, "but it might not work…"

"Is there a chance that it will?" Elsa asked, falling into the seat next to her.

"Only if I'm actually meant to be with Regina."

"Do you believe that you are meant to be together?" the other woman asked automatically.

"Yes…but…"

"Even though you can't remember everything about her, can you imagine a life in which she dies?" she asked, ignoring the objection.

"No…"

"Then I think that it's very clear that even if there is a chance, you have to take it. If I thought that there was a chance to save Anna from harm, I would take it no matter the risk and you would do the same for Henry or your parents. We both know that you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you didn't even try…"

"The problem is that if I do try, there is a chance that I just won't be able to live," the other blonde mumbled.

Elsa's eyebrows shot up as she took this in, but a moment later, she said, "you know that you would be willing to take that chance if it meant getting to be with Regina for the rest of your life…I don't believe that you would be willing to even try it if you didn't share True Love with her…"

Emma frowned for a minute, before she looked up at her blonde companion and smiled, "how do you always know what to say?"

The other blonde shrugged with a smile and said, "I suppose that in another life we could have been quite close friends."

"We still can be, you know?" the sheriff replied, "I mean, we obviously can stand to be around each other despite everything..."

"I would love that," she sighed, "which means that you have another reason to not die."

Emma smiled at her, though her face was still pinched with worry as she pulled her phone out and dialled a number.

"Hello?" the person on the other end of the line sighed heavily.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "I'm going to need you to remove Regina's heart, Gold."

* * *

"Do you really think this will work?" Henry asked cautiously once his mother had finished explaining what Gold had told her.

Emma looked over at Regina and sighed, "I don't think that there's any other way to break the curse…I'm more than willing to do it, but you have to understand that there is a chance that it won't work…and if it doesn't work…"

Before she could finish, Henry surged forward and hugged her tightly, "it will work," he said against her shoulder, refusing to acknowledge what she was implying would happen if it didn't. "You brought back the happy endings for everyone in town, now you deserve to bring back your own. There's no reason that it won't work…"

The blonde swallowed hard and brought her hand around his back, "when Gold gets here, you should go and wait outside, okay? I don't want you to see…what might happen…"

The boy was about to protest, but when he leaned back, he saw the pleading look in his mother's eyes, "okay…are you sure that we can trust him?"

Before she could reply, she heard a beeping behind her and she turned around with her mouth open at the sight of the heart monitor, which had remained stable for the past day.

She continued to stare, until the door burst open behind her and she saw two nurses rush over to the bed, one of them inspected the screen and quickly pressed the code button.

"Whale said that she had a few days," Emma said frantically, as she and Henry were pushed against the wall, apparently even the nurses knew that there would be no point in trying to make the saviour and her son leave the room. However, they did fail to answer her statement as they continued their work on the woman.

Exactly thirty seconds later, Whale strode through the door and he could feel the death glare from behind him.

"She had suffered two head traumas in the past week, as well as having her heart frozen, forgive me if I was not able to exactly predict just how much time she had left," she snapped without looking back at the saviour and her son.

Emma clenched her jaw at the doctor's words, but she decided that this didn't make all that much difference considering the plan that she was about to carry out.

For the next five minutes, Henry burrowed into his blonde mother's side as Whale ordered the nurses to administer various drugs, until finally, the heart monitor began to screech louder.

The doctor took a deep, steadying breath, before he grabbed the paddles from the crash cart that one of the nurses had pushed in with them upon their entrance.

Emma watched the move contemplatively, before she came forward and grabbed his arm before he could even try and shout the charge he required.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, trying to pull his arm out of her grasp.

"It won't work," the blonde replied, looking over at the woman who looked far too peaceful for her liking.

"When did you go to med school?" Whale snapped.

"About the same time you did," Emma shot back.

"Doctor!" the brunette nurse shouted, "she's flat-lining!"

Whale narrowed his eyes at the woman for stating the obvious, before he turned back to the blonde next to him and said, "are you going to allow me to do my job sheriff?"

"Not when it won't work," she growled, which just caused the man to sigh and step back.

"Fine, do whatever you want," he motioned for the nurses to step away too and Emma stared intently at the heart monitor. Her stomach dropped when she realised that she was standing there literally wishing for the woman to die, but she pushed past that thought when she thought about what would be coming next.

Raising her hand shakily, she muted the sound on the monitor, seeing that it was frightening Henry, and then started worrying at her bottom lip.

The blonde closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that she was somewhere else, somewhere that didn't involve standing around and waiting for the love of her life to die.

 _"Miss Swan, why are you in my office?" the mayor asked without looking up from her laptop._

 _The blonde woman rolled her eyes and steeled her nerves, having resolved to do this after a long talk with Ruby, she started by holding up a pile of random paperwork that she had been completed quickly just for this, "I had some spare time, so I thought that I would just hand deliver this instead of you having to send someone…"_

 _The brunette looked up at her sceptically, instantly seeing that it was forms that she had asked for a long time ago and had already dealt with after giving up hope of them ever being returned._

 _"That's very thoughtful of you, sheriff," she said flatly as she looked back to the report she had been reading, "you can just leave them on my desk."_

 _Emma nodded and walked tentatively across the room and placed them where she had been asked to._

 _Awkwardly, she placed her hands in her pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet._

 _Regina looked up again when she realised that she hadn't heard the sound of her office door opening and closing and raised her eyebrows expectantly, "was there something else?"_

 _The saviour nodded slowly, but failed to say anything, until the mayor cleared her throat and quirked a perfectly shaped eyebrow._

 _Blowing out a breath, the blond said, "I was just wondering if you would want to come to dinner…"_

 _Regina rolled her eyes and replied, "I believe the last time you tried to force Henry to have dinner with me, it didn't end well. I see no reason that any of us should go through that again…"_

 _Emma blew out a frustrated breath, feeling a blush creep up her neck, and said, "I didn't mean with Henry…I meant with me…"_

 _"Just you?" the older woman asked in disbelief, she couldn't quite believe that her crushed was requited, but obviously that wasn't how the other woman took it as the red hue on her cheeks rapidly turned crimson._

 _"Nevermind, it was a stupid idea," the blonde said quickly, "I should probably go and do…some more paperwork…"_

 _With that she turned on her heels to leave as quickly as she possibly could, but her feet halted at the sound of the other woman shouting, "Emma!"_

 _Turning back around, she swallowed hard, but she felt a bubble of hope in her stomach when she saw that the brunette had cared enough to stand from her chair._

 _"You can pick me up at eight, Miss Swan."_

"Mom," someone breathed.

Emma was brought out of her memory by the breathy cry and instantly knew that Henry was not talking to her.

The boy looked as though a waterfall of tears were about to fall and Emma instantly knew that she wasn't the only one who had her memories returned to her.

With a deep breath, she reluctantly looked at her ex-girlfriend, which she instantly regretted as it was so immediately obvious that Gold had been correct about the one thing that would break the curse.

"Do something," Henry said frantically, his mouth seemingly able to form words as his mind had finally gotten past the tirade of memories. As his mind showed him images of what he had done to the brunette, he couldn't help but feel completely and utterly helpless. He now had no doubt that this was all his fault and there was no way that he would be able to live with himself if his brunette mother stayed dead.

"But…Gold isn't here," Emma replied desperately as she stepped forward and lightly ran her fingers across Regina's face, actively having to stop herself from recoiling at just how cold her skin was.

"We don't have time to wait!" the brunette urged, "you have to do something now!"

The blonde nodded and brought her hand up as she considered what she was about to do, but with thoughts of getting Regina back, she managed to sink her hand into the older woman's chest. A moment later, she pulled the heart out and her mouth fell open when she saw that it was encased in a block of ice.

"I don't know what I'm meant to do now," she said raggedly, but her cry faltered when she noticed something that probably shouldn't have been possible. Underneath the ice, there was a very visible glowing, that looked as though it was getting stronger by the moment, "what the hell?" she muttered.

Henry furrowed his brow when he noticed the same thing as his mother, but it suddenly dawned on him and his mouth fell open, "her heart is becoming lighter."

"How is that possible?"

The brunette boy just shrugged, clearly no clearer on what exactly this meant, but the sound of footsteps tore his attention away when he saw the pawn store owner staring at the same thing as them. He had an expression mixed between curiosity and shock; and, unlike the two Charmings, he obviously knew exactly what it meant.

"It means that by sacrificing so much for the two of you, the Evil Queen's heart is finally lightening. Perhaps, you don't need to split your heart, sheriff," he announced thoughtfully as he walked further into the room, coming to a stop next to her so that he could further inspect the frozen organ.

"What does that mean?" the sheriff asked, her voice urging him to hurry since she was very aware that the woman they were discussing was very much dead.

"This light represents the goodness in her life, which finds its origin in the two of you. However, there has always been something preventing her from having both of you in her life," he replied slowly, hoping that they would get what he meant.

Emma continued to look very much confused, but she felt another hand circle around the heart in her hand and she looked at Henry who said, "she needs both of us in her life to be happy, so we both need to show that we both need her in our lives to be happy."

"True Love's Kiss from both of us?" the blonde asked cautiously, very much hoping that she had gotten the right end of the stick here.

Instead of answering, Henry just pulled her over to the top end of the bed and took a deep breath, "on three?" he asked.

Emma swallowed hard and prayed to anyone who was listening that this would work and leaned down to capture the brunette's lips. At the same time, Henry leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. As soon as his lips touched her skin, a brilliant light shot out with the power of two True Love's Kisses.

When the both stood back up, Henry let go of his blonde mother's hand and she brought the heart in her hand up, which was now completely unfrozen.

"It worked," she breathed, though it didn't escape her notice that the organ that was now mostly red had yet to actually beat.

Gold rolled his eyes at her kicked puppy expression and took the heart from her hand and, in one swift motion, placed it back into the queen's chest.

"What does that prove?!" Emma almost shouted, wishing that there was something that she could do to actually harm the insufferable little imp.

The man just rolled his eyes again and replied, "need I remind you, sheriff that we are in fact in a hospital?"

Emma looked over her shoulder, seemingly remembering that Whale was still there and she said, "oh…right…"

The doctor narrowed his eyes at the woman, who decided against angering him any further as she just stepped out of the way to allow him to finish what he started.

"Charging…clear…"

"Charging…clear…"

Each time Whale said those words, Henry burrowed further into Emma's side and she pulled him closer as the anticipation rose. She couldn't help but think that it could all very well have been pointless and it wasn't as if they'd had a chance to say a proper goodbye considering Whale's poor estimations.

Finally, though, the unmuted heart monitor spiked and Emma felt her own heart clench in time with the machine and she took deep breaths, watching as the machine continued to spike.

Whale watched the monitor intently too and he took a step back, "she should be fine as long as the head trauma heals as it should…"

Gold stared at his former student for a second, feeling a stab of guilt in his stomach as he considered that everything that had ever happened to her had been his fault. Rolling his eyes at the humane thoughts, he clicked his fingers, causing a brief glimmer to shine around the queen until it disappeared a brief moment later.

"What was that?" Emma asked cautiously, but before the man could even open his mouth to answer, her attention was drawn by Regina's eyes slowly opening and she completely forgot that the Dark One was even there.

"Regina," she whispered as she fell into the plastic chair.

The brunette blinked a couple of times as she took in the confusing scene before her, she was relatively certain that she must have been hallucinating.

"What…" she began groggily, closing her eyes as dizziness overtook her senses.

"Mom!" Henry said excitedly falling into the chair next to Emma and smiling as broadly as possible at his brunette mother, "how are you feeling?"

"I…don't…" she said confusedly, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell unconscious again.

Emma and Henry exchanged a quick concerned look, but Whale prevented either of them from freaking out by saying, "her body needs time to recover, she'll be fine."

They each blew out a breath of relief, "thank you," the blonde breathed and Whale nodded, she then turned to Gold and offered him the first genuine smile she had ever directed at him and said, "thank you."

The Dark One just nodded in return, before he said, "I must be going, I'm assuming that I have some things to explain to Belle…"

With that, he backed out of the room and Henry turned to Emma with tears in his eyes, "I'm so sorry, ma. None of this would have happened if I hadn't been so selfish…"

The blonde thought for a moment that she should simply agree with the boy, but when she looked at Regina, she was reminded of all he had done to bring her back. He was no longer the same boy who had forced her to end the best relationship of her life, so she just put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer.

"When your mom wakes up, we can talk about all of it as a family."

 **A/N So this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I wanted it to be, but I wanted the curse broken in this chapter, so I hope you guys still liked it :)**

 **The next chapter (and last) chapter is already finished and I will probably be publishing it on Saturday :)**

 **I would love to hear what you guys thought XD**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen

Regina opened her eyes slowly, her dry throat instantly causing her to break out into a coughing fit.

What she didn't expect was to feel someone jump to their feet next to her as they scrambled to pour her a cup of water. When she fully opened her eyes, her mouth hung open slightly when she saw the brunette boy who was handing her the cup. For a moment, she wondered whether she had fallen asleep whilst watching 'Young Justice' and kissing the saviour in the forest had all been part of a very elaborate dream. But when she thought about it, she realised that she remembered the brief moment she had opened her eyes earlier. Hearing Henry call her mom for the first time in more than half a year had been both confusing and amazing at the same time and now that most of the grogginess was gone, she was ready to discover whether it had been some kind of cruel hallucination.

"Thank you," she said cautiously, as she turned to survey the room. The moment her eyes fell onto to Emma, she somehow knew that the curse must have broken. During the curse, she had always looked somewhat confused, but now she was wearing an expression of concern and a hint of anger.

Standing, the blonde helped the other woman sit up so that she could drink her water and once she was suitably satisfied that she was comfortable she went back to her chair and asked, "how are you feeling?"

"I…I'm not sure…mostly confused…" she admitted, looking back to Henry's caring expression that was far more intense than any he had shot her during the curse.

Emma nodded and said, "you…died…" there was a catch in the woman's throat at the memory and she decided to quickly move past that particular painful memory as she continued, "the curse broke and me and Henry were able to kiss you to unfreeze your heart…then Whale used the paddles to bring you back…"

"Both of you kissed me?" Regina asked slowly. Part of her couldn't help a certain feeling of glee at finding out that the saviour was in fact her True Love, but the other part of her couldn't really accept the fact that her son actually loved her after everything he had done. But when she looked over at the guilty expression consuming his face, she instantly knew that his regret meant that the curse had somehow changed him. It had given him a chance to spend time with her without having to worry about just how evil she was, and obviously, that was what he needed to actually appreciate her for the mother she had always been to him.

Henry nodded quickly, coming to stand in front of her as he placed his hands on the mattress, "I…" he began, but tears welled up in his eyes when he realised that there were no words strong enough, but he knew he had to say something, so he decided to go for, "I'm really sorry, mom, I shouldn't have ever made you believe that my life would be better without you…"

The older brunette's mouth fell open for a moment as realised that she was finally getting exactly what she had been dreaming about during her seven months of loneliness. Somehow, though, none of the times she had imagined this happened could stand up to the real thing when she realised that this meant that she didn't have to be so alone anymore.

"It's okay, Henry," she said softly.

"No it's not," the blonde behind him mumbled, which caused Henry's eyebrows to shoot up as he turned around to face his other mother.

"Emma…" Regina said cautiously.

"He forced us to break up and you forced me to completely forget our relationship. I felt like a terrible person for months because I had a crush on you, but I couldn't help it because my subconscious knew that I love you!"

The brunette looked at her cautiously, deciding to only smile internally at the fact that she had used the present tense. However, she couldn't think of any defence and replied, "I know, Emma, and I'm sorry, but I had to do it…"

"No you didn't, did you even consider the fact that you're not obligated to listen to a ten-year-old?"

Henry winced at her words and Regina brought her hand forward to squeeze his reassuringly, hoping that he understood that his mother's anger was completely justified.

"I…" the older woman trailed off and winced as she felt a jolt of pain run through her head, leaving her incapable of thinking of a comeback and the saviour instantly deflated.

"Are you in pain?" the blonde asked softly.

"I'm fine…"

The blonde just shook her head and said, "I'll go and get Whale…" before she was halfway across the room, she seemed to think better of it and walked back over to Regina and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek, "I'm really glad that you're okay…"

With that, she awkwardly turned on her heels and made her way to the door.

Regina watched her go and brought her hand up to cover her mouth in hopes that Henry wouldn't see how close she was to tears. But she failed miserably as tears were already trailing down her cheeks.

Henry swallowed hard as he considered whether his mother had ever cried in front of him and then he felt a stab of pain as he wondered how many times she had cried because of him. After a moment of thought, he climbed into the empty space next to her and carefully leaned his head on her shoulder, hoping that the movement didn't hurt her.

"I'm really glad you're okay too," he mumbled, unable to stop his own tears from falling.

Regina pulled her arm around the boy and smiled sadly.

"Thank you, my little prince."

-One week later-

"Did ma call?" Henry asked as he entered the kitchen.

Regina looked up from the vegetables she had been chopping and smiled widely at the boy as she had done every time she had seen him casually walking around her house since she had been discharged from hospital. She could have never imagined that being attacked by some insane Snow Queen would have resulted in her getting her son back after seven months of hell.

During the curse, she had often thought about what would happen if it were ever to be broken. One of the things that she often wondered was just how Emma would take it. She had taken her memories from her without permission and she had forced her to move on from their relationship after she had begged her to get back together. She often wished that she had taken that offer to continue their relationship in private, but she knew that would cause just as much heartache as their current situation had.

Therefore, she found that the blonde was perfectly justified in her request for space while she sorted out her feelings. At first it had been so she would be able to help Elsa and her family find their way back to Arendelle, which must have taken at least four days from what she could tell. But that still meant that she had spent the past two days actively avoiding her and Henry and she couldn't really blame her.

"She just needs space, Henry," Regina replied as he came and sat on one of the stools propping his head on his hand, "you can't just expect her to get over what happened."

"But it was all my fault," he frowned, "she shouldn't be punishing you for something that I did…"

The older brunette frowned and placed the knife down so that she could give him her full, undivided attention, "I cast the curse Henry, she has every right to not just accept the first apology I gave her. We both made mistakes and we can't expect her to just pretend that none of it happened…we can't just deny the last seven months of our lives…"

Looking down at the counter, the boy nodded slowly as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat, "but I made the two of you break up…if I had just accepted your relationship, you would probably be with her right now instead of just waiting for her to call…"

"You were just doing what you thought was right. I believed that making you believe that you were crazy for over a year was the best course of action because I so desperately wanted to protect my curse. Everyone makes mistakes and most people are able to admit to those mistakes eventually, but that's not an easy thing to do. It's even more difficult for others to accept that you've accepted your own mistakes."

Henry bit the inside of his cheek and thought for a minute, before he said, "have you spoke to her at all though?"

"We've exchanged a few messages about her progress with Elsa, Anna and Kristoff, but she has made it clear that she wishes to be left alone for a while and I think that we owe her that much, wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess…" he mumbled, "but I just don't get why she wouldn't want to spend time with you after being apart for so long…"

"I am willing to wait, Henry, I have waited seven months, I can wait longer if I need to…"

Henry cringed at her words and she quickly shot him a sympathetic look when she realised that she had said those words out loud.

"We owe her the chance to think things over, if she was going to run, then we both know that she would have done so by," the older brunette said as reassuringly as she could. "Emma will reach out to one of us when she feels like she can."

The boy sighed, but nodded in understanding nonetheless. He could see why his blonde mother had every right to pissed at both of them and with helping Elsa find her way home, he doubted that she'd really had much time to think through her emotions.

"So what's for dinner?" he asked after a moment of silence.

Regina smiled at him weakly and picked up the knife to continue her preparation, "lasagna."

Henry smiled at the thought of another meal from his brunette mother. Even before the newest curse, food had been one of the biggest things he had missed. Emma wasn't as terrible a cook as she once was, but it would take more than seven months for her to ever match up to Regina's skill in the kitchen.

The pair sat in silence for about five minutes, before a thought occurred to Henry and he asked, "have you watched Ant-Man?"

The mayor looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow and replied. "I haven't seen any Marvel movies since Winter Soldier."

A huge grin spread across his face and he jumped up from his chair, "we need to have a movie marathon then, I really want to see Civil War soon."

"Okay," Regina laughed lightly and watched him as he went off to get his laptop.

Letting out a small sigh, she looked back down to the vegetables.

Everything was almost perfect and she couldn't help but worry that there was a chance that she didn't deserve actual perfection.

* * *

Emma stared at the ceiling and let out a small huff as her mind was assaulted, once again, with her conflicting feelings.

On one hand, she missed Regina and Henry, but on the other hand, she couldn't stand the thought of facing the two people who had caused her so much pain. She couldn't help the feeling that if she and Regina were meant to be together then there wouldn't have been something so major getting in the way of their happiness. But then she thought about how much her parents had gone through, only to stay together. Even after losing their memories for nearly three decades, they had stayed together and tried to rebuild their family the moment they'd had their memories returned to them. Plus, there was the fact that when she tried to imagine her future, it always involved Regina and Henry and she knew that it always would, so she was obviously just stalling.

"If you're going to continue moping in my apartment, you could at least clean up after yourself," Ruby huff as she walked in to see the bearclaw wrapper on the coffee table.

Emma looked over to her and smiled sadly, before she waved her hand, making the wrapper disappear.

The wolf's eyebrows shot up and she said, almost in awe, "I thought that you only had one magic lesson…"

"I've been practicing," the blonde shrugged as she sat up.

The brunette just rolled her eyes and came over to sit on the couch space that was now free.

"You know that you could have been learning from a magical master instead of moping in your best friend's living room."

Both women turned their attention to the other brunette who had come in with her girlfriend and was staring at both of them judgingly.

Ruby noticed that some of the expression was directed at her and she said defensively, "what have I done?"

"You haven't been telling Emma that she needs to go and talk to Regina," the librarian shot back, "as her best friend, you're not allowed to just let her be miserable while the person who can make her happy is just across town…"

The waitress just shook her head and Belle rolled her eyes.

"We talked about this, Rubes…"

Emma furrowed her brow as she looked between the pair and said, "talked about what?"

"Belle is convinced that you should go and talk to Regina…but I'm not so sure…"

The blonde sighed and replied. "of course you're not, she cursed you two as well…I mean, Belle, she forced you to be with Gold…"

"No…that was his request. If you thought that you could do something to make Regina or Henry happy, you know that you would have agreed to the terms too. I know I probably would have felt as though I had no choice, Rumple is good at making people feel that way…"

Ruby jumped up from her seat and hugged the other brunette, who instantly hugged her back.

After a few moments, they parted and Belle said, "the moment the curse broke, all I wanted to do was go and see Ruby and you know that you want to go and see Regina. Don't let your stubbornness be the reason that you spend another seven months so miserable…Especially since you know exactly what the solution is."

Emma sighed and looked down at her lap, "I don't know…"

"Do you love Regina?" Ruby asked unexpectedly.

"Yes," the saviour replied instantly.

"Then Belle's right, you need to go and talk to her," the wolf sighed, feeling a twinge of guilt at the fact that she was part of the reason why the blonde had yet to go and sort out her love life.

"But…"

"For better or worse, Swan," Ruby interrupted.

"We're not married, Lucas," Emma replied crossing her arms petulantly.

"Oh come on, we all know that you will be eventually. She deserves happiness."

"I thought you hate her…" the blonde frowned.

"I may not be her biggest fan right now," she admitted, looking over to Belle who nodded at her encouragingly. "But we were talking and we agreed that as long as Regina is miserable, you'll be miserable too…why would you want to make yourself unhappy?"

"Because I don't want to go back and pretend that it never happened! How am I supposed to just go and say that I'm perfectly fine with what she did?!"

"Because you love everything about her," Belle offered, "even her mistakes."

"But…"

"You're a grown woman, Emma and you shouldn't be spending your time feeling sorry for yourself instead of working out your issues. No one is saying that you need to forgive her, but we are saying that you need to go and talk to her so that you don't end up regretting all of this time that you've wasted."

Emma opened her mouth to spout another excuse, but she decided better when she realised that the librarian's words made complete sense. If the woman who had been collateral damage in the former queen's curse could forgive her, then the woman who loved the brunette with all of her being could certainly make an effort.

"Fine, I'll go and talk to Regina," she sighed.

Ruby and Belle smiled at each other in triumph and five seconds of silence past before they each looked at the blonde expectantly.

"Right now?" Emma asked once she noticed them staring at her.

"Yes, right now," Ruby sighed as she came forward to practically pick the woman up off her couch, "it's not that I don't want you here, but you could have waited to sell your apartment you know…" she whispered.

The blonde looked over the taller woman's shoulder and silently berated herself when she realised exactly what the other woman was about to say, "having me living on your couch is cutting into your alone time with Belle," she whispered back, making sure that the other brunette couldn't hear, "sorry, Rubes…"

"It's cool," she chuckled, "just go."

The blonde laughed lightly and quickly hugged her best friend, before she stepped over the coffee table and said, "thanks guys."

* * *

-In Arendelle-

"Will you stop pacing?" Anna chuckled as she watched her sister, now finally wearing a blue dress that suited her far more than her Storybrooke attire had.

"I'm not worried," Elsa said defensively, causing her sister's eyebrows to shoot up.

"I said you were pacing, I didn't say that you were worried," the younger woman laughed.

The blonde sighed and said, "I'm just worried that Ingrid will somehow find a way out of the dungeon before her trial…"

"You're lying," Anna said instantly, "I know that you have complete faith in that band. Emma said that it would work, so you know that you have nothing to worry about…"

The older of the pair huffed and mumbled, "has everybody got this ridiculous superpower now?"

"What?"

"Never mind," Elsa sighed, "perhaps you are correct that I am a little…worried...I will soon be faced with a kingdom that I have once again abandoned…"

"You're lying again. You know that I told the people you were on a diplomatic mission."

Elsa rolled her eyes and fell into her throne and replied, "I forgot how well you're able to read me…"

Anna chuckled lightly and walked over to her sister, "Giselle has missed you just as much as I did, she will be nothing but thrilled to see you again after all of this time."

The blonde felt her mouth go dry at the mention of the hand-maiden's name and she asked, "she really stayed in your service while I was gone?"

"Of course, she didn't want to miss the day of your return so that she could finally have that dinner that you promised her…"

The queen cringed, before she furrowed her brow and said, "I was under the impression that I would be having dinner with you and Kristoff tonight…"

"Well if I told you the truth, then you would have turned into a nervous mess," Anna laughed, "we have all of the time in the world to have dinner together, especially since we really need to start planning my wedding before Kristoff has a breakdown from just how nervous he has been waiting…"

The blonde rolled her eyes playfully and asked, "and does Giselle know about this?"

"No…but the chef knows and that's always a good start…"

Before the older sister could open her mouth to chuckle, she heard someone let out a ragged breath and her eyes shot over to the door where a very familiar blonde stood with her mouth hanging open. Elsa stared at her for another moment, as her mind tried to come to terms with the fact that she was faced with the woman that she had been subconsciously missing for months.

"Giselle," she breathed as she rose to her feet.

The hand-maiden also took a moment, almost as if she was ensuring that she wasn't hallucinating, but she seemed to decide finally that it must be real, as she rushed across the room.

Before the queen could even think about opening her mouth to say 'hello', the blonde leaned up and captured her lips in her own.

Elsa stood frozen in place for a moment, but she finally caught up with what was happening as she brought her hands up to the other woman's waist and deepened the kiss. They continued like this for almost thirty seconds, before Anna cleared her throat to remind them that they were not alone.

Breaking apart, but still remaining incredibly close, they both turned to the red-head, who was smirking at them.

Giselle's eyes widened when she realised that she had done exactly what she wanted to do without thinking it through and she looked up to the queen with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, your majesty," she began, but she was cut off when the other woman leaned forward to steal another peck.

When she leaned back, she smiled broadly and said, "please Giselle, call me Elsa."

* * *

Regina pulled the lasagne out of the oven and sighed contently when she saw that it was perfectly browned. Laying it on the counter, she removed her oven mitt and apron and made her way to the foyer so that she could call Henry down for dinner. They had already watched Guardians of the Galaxy before dinner and Regina had told him to go and finish his homework before he put on Age of Ultron, deciding that she could make a onetime exception to her rule of not eating in front of the television.

When she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she opened her mouth to call him, but before a sound came out, she heard a quick and frantic knock at the door. Furrowing her brow, she wondered whether she had been expecting anyone. Snow had showed up at her door at least twice this week in an attempt to be civil, obviously she wanted her daughter to see that she was making an effort.

With that in mind, she rolled her eyes as she clicked over to the door and pulled it open, prepared to smile at Snow and then find a way to get her to leave as swiftly as possible.

But when the door was fully open, her mind went completely blank when she saw that it was not the Charming she had expected, in fact it was one of the only two Charmings that she would ever be happy to open her door to.

"Emma…" she breathed, trying not to think about the last time she had opened the door to this woman, it had resulted in the curse being cast.

The blonde smiled tightly at her and said, "I hope this isn't a bad time…"

"Of course not," the brunette replied quickly, stepping aside to allow the other woman access to her home. Emma stood awkwardly behind her as the mayor closed the door and turned to face her, looking almost hopeful.

The pair stood in silence for a moment, before the saviour announced, "I'm an idiot."

Regina furrowed her brow and was about to argue that wasn't true, but Emma held up her hand to cut off her reply so that she could carry on talking:

"I spent the last seven months not even realising what…or who…I was missing so much and now I finally have my memory back and I decided to actively avoid you."

"I deserved it…" Regina began, but was cut off once again by the saviour's raised hand.

"You don't deserve any pain. I have promised you many times that we could be happy together and that I wouldn't let anything break us apart and then I went against it. I know that I had the right to be angry about what you did, but spending the week being miserable wasn't helping anyone."

The brunette watched the other woman's rant for a moment, finally allowing her to finish, before she asked, "have you been practicing that speech?"

Emma stared at her for a moment emotionlessly, before a smile spread across her face and she reached out to pull her closer by the waist. Regina instantly brought her hands up to her neck and they leant in at the same time for a slow, long kiss.

When they finally parted, the brunette furrowed her brow and asked, "what was that for?"

"I just remembered that I love everything about you, even the annoying parts."

"Oh charming," the mayor muttered, though she wasn't even trying to hide the huge smile that was starting to consume her face. She had assumed that it would take far more than a week for the other woman to forgive her, but she was so relieved that she wouldn't have to wait any longer to be held in the blonde's arms.

They smiled at each other for another moment, before Emma's smiled dropped and she looked at the ground, "I haven't completely forgiven you…"

"I know," Regina sighed, her smile also dropping.

"But Belle made me realise that the only way I would ever get over it would be to remember just why the curse had hurt so much. I can't be mad at you for keeping us apart and then keep us apart."

"So you're saying that the only way you can forgive me is to spend time with me?" the former queen asked, slightly confused.

Emma nodded slowly and inspected the woman, "I think it might already be starting to work, I forgot how beautiful you are up close."

The brunette couldn't stop herself from blushing as she smiled, "and I forgot how many compliments one gets when they date a Charming."

"Well you need to get used to it again…" Emma chuckled, but she furrowed her brow and asked, "I mean…you do want to be my girlfriend again, right?"

Regina smirked at the woman's sudden loss of confidence, she had forgotten just how adorable the woman got when she was trying not to show how nervous she was.

By way of answer, she leaned up and kissed her again, before she extracted herself from their embrace and said, "could you go and get Henry for dinner?"

"Was that a yes?"

"Of course," Regina chuckled.

A dopey grin spread across the saviour's lips and she quickly stole another kiss before she ran upstairs.

A moment later, she stood in front of their son's old bedroom and she took a deep breath knowing that it was probably going to look the same as his room in their old apartment.

Knocking lightly, she waited five seconds before she heard a somewhat cautious boy say, "come in…"

When she pushed the door open, she had barely gotten across the threshold before Henry leapt out of his seat and had thrown his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

Taking a moment to get her bearings, she brought her arm around his back and squeezed him tightly, "I missed you to, Hen," she whispered.

Pulling back, the boy gave her a watery-smile, before he asked, "have you made up with mom?"

"I…I have started to and I don't think it will be long until I've completely forgiven her."

The boy nodded excitedly, before a thought occurred to him and his face dropped, "and me?"

"You're my son, Henry, I can't stay mad at you forever…"

"After mom broke up with you, you hated me…and it didn't seem like you were ever going to forgive me…I mean, you even slapped grandma…" he said, finally allowing everything to burst out. He had decided not to tell his brunette mother all of this considering just how much he had already put her through. He had no doubt that Emma would forgive Regina quite quickly, but he had been genuinely worried that she probably hated him.

The blonde frowned for a moment as she thought back to the same memories, but somehow they felt as though they were from a completely different life.

"I didn't hate you, Henry, I just couldn't understand why you forced me to end a relationship that made me so happy and I couldn't stand the way that you made your mom feel. She spent most of our time together worried that you would break us apart…"

Bowing his head in shame, the boy nodded, "I know…I was horrible and I'm really sorry…"

"You didn't let me finish, Henry," the saviour interrupted, making him look up. "Your mom was willing to put herself through seven months of torture to make you happy and I would go through any kind of torture to make you happy. If I'd had time to properly mourn the relationship, then I would have gone along with it to make you happy…"

"But you wouldn't have been happy…" he frowned.

"That's not the point," she said, bringing her hand up to wipe a few tears away. "I know I've never told you this, but emotions are difficult for me and I'm sorry if I've ever made you feel like I hate you…you're my son and I will always love you."

"Even when I'm being a selfish little brat?" he sniffled.

"Yes, I may not like you sometimes, but you need to know that I will always love you…and your mom…"

Henry surged forward to hug her again and she ran fingers through his hair for a few moments, before she remembered what she was meant to be doing, "I was meant to be getting you for dinner…"

"Are you gonna stay?" he asked hopefully.

"Well…I didn't ask…" the blonde frowned.

"You don't need to ask," she heard someone say from behind her and both Charmings looked over to the door on which the mayor was leaning with slightly glassy eyes at the touching scene she had just witnessed.

Emma smiled at her for a few seconds before she turned back to Henry and said, "I guess that answers your question."

The younger brunette smiled broadly and hugged her again, Emma looked back over to the door and managed to wiggle her arm out to extend it to the woman.

Regina unhitched herself and walked over to the hugging pair.

As soon as she was close enough, Emma brought her arm around the woman's shoulder and Henry moved back so that he could hug her mid-section.

The three of them stayed in the hug for a while, none of them caring that the lasagne was probably getting cold.

* * *

-Fifteen years later-

Regina rubbed her temples and sighed deeply as her headache started to get progressively worse.

"It's mine," the thirteen-year-old blonde screeched.

"I need it more than you do," her carbon-copy next to her also screeched.

Moving her hand over to her forehead, the brunette rubbed it for a few seconds further, before she looked at the woman at the other end of the table and said as calmly as she could, "what are they arguing about?"

Her wife looked up from her plate and smirked before she replied, "Tamsin wants Dawn's laptop while hers gets fixed, but Dawn wants to do her homework, which Tamsin doesn't think is as important as whatever she's planning to do…"

The twins looked between their mothers and finally both looked at Regina to see how she thought the issue should be resolved and she rolled her eyes before saying, "Tamsin you broke your laptop and Dawn is under no obligation to share hers…"

"But I need to do my homework," the girl pouted.

Emma looked at her in disbelief and asked, "now that you have no laptop, you suddenly decide that you have to do your homework?"

"Do you not want me to get into college?"

"You're thirteen," Regina chuckled as she brought her glass of wine up to her lips, taking a sip.

"And you're in a grade lower than me," Dawn laughed, sticking her tongue out. Her twin huffed, she hated being reminded that her sister had skipped a grade and said sister liked to remember her at every given opportunity.

"Are you telling me, moms, that you actually don't want me to do my homework?" she asked, looking as innocent as she possibly could.

The brunette of the two mothers just closed her eyes, willing away the headache that she'd had since a particularly stressful meeting earlier that day.

Emma instantly noticed that she was obviously in some pain and said, "you can use my laptop, Tamsin," she said.

The blonde raised her arms in triumph and stuck her tongue out at her sister.

Dawn opened her mouth to complain, but Emma held up her hand up to stop her, "both of you go and take your plates to the sink and then go and do your homework."

They both looked as though they were about to protest, but at their blonde mother's stern look, they each jumped up and grabbed their plates, disappearing into the kitchen.

Emma rose from her chair and went over to sit next to the brunette, placing her hand on the older woman's hand, "why don't you go and take a nap?"

"I don't need a nap," the woman replied unconvincingly, as she yawned.

"You took Dawn to her before school science club and then you had to deal with the power grid issue…"

Regina's eyebrow shot up in surprise and Emma chuckled lightly.

"This might surprise you, Gina, but I do tend to listen to my wife when she tells me about her day."

The brunette just laughed and nodded, "I suppose that I could stand to have a couple of hours…"

"Yeah, you're going to need your energy…" the blonde replied, standing to pick up the other woman's plate.

Regina frowned as she took this remark in, but she couldn't come up with anything and then she noticed that the other woman was wearing a somewhat guilty expression, "what did you do?"

Emma smiled as charmingly as she possibly could and she said, "Henry called…"

"Yes?"

"He forgot that he planned a date with Violet and he wants us to watch Daniella…"

"So the reason you want me to have a nap is so that I don't fall asleep while we watch our two-year-old granddaughter?" Regina smirked.

"I want you to take a nap because I love you and I want you to feel better…and you know that you would want to be wide awake to spend time with her…"

"I spend a lot of time with her, Emma and Henry calls me every time he has any little question…" the brunette reminded her.

"Well obviously he would, you've raised three kick-ass kids," the blonde chuckled.

Regina was about to reply, but she was cut short by the sound of a shattering dish from the kitchen.

The blonde and brunette exchanged a look, before the older of the pair stood and placed a quick kiss to her lips, "I'll have that nap and you deal with that, I'll stay up to look after Daniella and you can go to sleep."

"Oh sure, you get to look after the cute baby and I get the grumpy pre-teens," Emma mumbled, though she smiled nonetheless as she made her way to the kitchen.

 **A/N So that's the end XD I hope you guys liked it :) and I would love to hear what you thought of this fic.**

 **I need to thank my beta, QueenApples, for all of her awesome help and I need to thank PerditusFic for helping out whenever I need it XD**


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